Pet
by cutiechibi
Summary: UPDATE! This story is discontinued because it's in the process of becoming a published, original novel! Please check the tumblr link on my profile for more details!
1. Kitsune

_**Pet**_

By: _Chibi_

_Summary_: Complete Alternate Universe. 19 year old Uchiha Sasuke works for his brother who is an average businessman except for one thing, he collects the most exotic pets anyone has ever seen. And there is one pet in particular that Sasuke finds himself looking at every chance he gets: a beautiful fox that surprisingly has nine tails.

_Pairings_: Itachi and Naruto, Sasuke and Naruto (main pairing), Haku and Gaara (um... yeah), Ino and Sakura, possible Itachi and Gaara... wow I don't know where that came from. If any other random pairings come up I'll warn you.

_Warnings_: Many. Very many. Read at your own risk.

_Disclaimer_: Naruto is mine, all mine! Mine mine mine! Just kidding.

_Notes_: O.K. So this idea came at around 10 this morning. It's dangerous to turn on your computer and see the Pet Shop of Horrors background you put up, then go, "Oh, Haku would look pretty in that outfit... uh oh." This is yet another multipart fic (which I shouldn't be doing since I have like 3 already) and if it's a bad chapter I will of course post it at my other sources (wow, I make it sound like I'm some kind of spy or something...). Sasuke, in this story, is the youngest character. That's all I'm going to say. Though if you want a visual reference of age I'd put Gaara in the same age group as Sasuke along with Ino and Sakura, and Haku just a bit older, maybe 21. And Itachi is of course however many years older he is than Sasuke. And yes, I'm being vague with the ages for a reason.

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_Kitsune_

The city was always busy. Too busy. Stuffed full of people rushing to work, to lunch, to shop, to date. Stuff full of cars, taxis, buses, bicycles, underground subways, of airplanes that controlled the skies with the birds. Buildings that were stories high made up the interior decoration of the city along with a large park here or there that was hidden amongst the skyscrapers, museums, schools, art institutes, aquariums, shopping malls, and restaurants. Even if the city was jammed to capacity, even if it was hard to tell that girl from that boy from that kid from that adult there was one person who managed to stick out amongst the crowd.

He moved easily with a kind of grace that you only heard about but never really seen before. He moved slowly, taking his time as if the world wouldn't continue until he got to his destination. Even if people were always in a rush, for rushing was the main code of conduct of the city, everyone that saw him took at least a quick second to let their eyes roam over him. Beautiful enough to be a girl, sensual enough to be a woman, so desirable that questions on his gender were asked after tea, cake, and hopes on getting to the bedroom. Black hair caressed the middle of his back, decorating a Chinese style tunic made up of flowers and silk. Fair skin and chocolate eyes, he was something that walked out of your fantasies for only a moment then just like that, he was gone.

He knew what he did to people and enjoyed every minute of it.

Finally he reached his destination, a rather tall building that wasn't the tallest in the city yet somehow it stuck out nevertheless. There was an odd symbol on the eight glass doors in the front, a circle, the top half white and the bottom red, that sat on a small stand. This was the building for the Uchiha men, a name that meant all kinds of wealth and power in the city. It was one of those names that women spoke in hopes of marriage, men spoke in hopes of a drinking partner, and other businesses spoke in hopes of firm handshakes and the best of success.

He made his way into the building, clutching onto a brown paper bag that hadn't been opened since he made his trip. He didn't bother to go to the front desk to ask if it was o.k. to see the main name in the building, instead he went straight to the elevator and leaned back, waiting to get to the top floor. No one questioned why he was there or gave him a hard time for not going to the front desk like everyone else, there was no need to do such things with this young man.

The doors slid open on the sixty-eighth floor to reveal a long hallway with no other doors but the one straight ahead. Leaning back against the door was a young man with skin the color of sand, eyes the color of the prettiest green jewel you could never find, and shaggy red hair that reminded you of someone getting out of bed. Despite being a personal guard the young man wore a dark shirt made up of fishnet sleeves and equally dark pants that hugged his legs tightly, as if they never wanted to let go.

The young man smiled when he saw the one leaning against the door.

"Hello there, Gaara." Gaara looked up and nodded his head in greeting. "Is Mr. Uchiha inside?"

"He's been expecting you, Haku."

"I see." Haku reached a hand forward and oddly enough began to scratch Gaara behind one of his ears. It was a strange thing to see but Gaara had a reaction that was on the levels of happiness and melting. Haku smiled and let his lips brush against Gaara's. "It's always nice to see a smile on your face."

"You always know what to do to get me to smile." His voice trailed off into a low moan when Haku's hand moved into his hair, petting him, like one would do to a cat of some sort.

"I'll make you smile more later." There was a promise of something that made Gaara's eyes shine in anticipation. "But I better go and speak with Itachi." And with those words and one last lingering brush of the lips Haku stepped through the door and closed it behind him

He was met with the sight of an office that could quite possibly be the size of a small house. Haku walked towards the desk, his eyes taking in everything around him like it were a new thing for him to see despite the fact of being there many times. The office itself didn't look quite like an office. The desk and the chairs looked out of place, as if they were put in at the last minute to remind people that this was someone's office. The walls were decorated with all kinds of paintings, of animals that lived in times we can't remember, of plants that could only be found in forests that would eventually be chopped apart. The window behind the desk was always open, always lighting up the office and revealing the best view of the city.

But it wasn't these things that made the office unique. Surprisingly, it was the floor.

The floor wasn't exactly a floor, rather it was a large fish tank, as if the office was set on top of it. The floor was clear like glass yet stronger than any type of steal to make sure it didn't break. In the corner a plant sat, blending in with the area and covering up the opening that with one dive brought you underwater. Swimming in the water below were numerous fish. Red, blue, yellow, any color you could imagine swam back and forth, not stopping. The fish ranged in size, some could be as small as a dime, others as big as your fist...

... and then there was Kisame.

Kisame was a blue shark that Itachi had taken an interest in as soon as he laid eyes on him. With the right amount of bargaining and the right price Haku sold the man the large creature. Haku specialized in having the rarest animals, something that only a few people knew about since his shop wasn't very large and sat in one of those areas of town that you knew about, yet you never went there yourself. It was as if only the brave, privileged, or maybe even foolish few dared to set foot in Haku's shop. Itachi was one of those people and Haku frequently did business with his, bringing the animals food and checking up on them. And on some rare occasions, like with the beautiful sand colored creature outside called Gaara, Haku would bring pleasure to the animals.

Animals. Humans. Was there really a difference? People who did discover Haku and his animals found themselves questioning that all the time. For Haku's animals could be, and were, as human as they were animal.

"Haku. I've been waiting for you." Haku looked up and found himself staring into deep red eyes, eyes that reminded him of the deadliest of hunters. Uchiha Itachi. Known to be ruthless to his competition and show no mercy. He was as handsome as he was deadly. Dressed in a nicely pressed black suit with matching fingerless gloves to show the black painted nails, Itachi didn't really like being confined in a suit and tie all day. Therefore, he wore whatever little accessory he could to escape it. Today was the fingerless gloves, tomorrow might be a couple of belts wrapped in enticing angles around his waist, and the next day might be a deep black belt like collar. He already had the ultimate accessory, the contacts he just had to have and wear so much that no one could remember what his normal eye color was. "Did you bring what I asked?"

"Yes I did." Haku opened his paper bag with a bright smile. "Now where is he? Where is little Naruto?" Curled up in Itachi's lap was out of all things a fox the color of fire. The color of his fur made him stand out more than normal foxes, but what put the icing on the cake was his many tails. Instead of having just one, or even two, Naruto had a total of nine tails.

A nine tailed kitsune, the rarest kind of kitsune you could find. And here he was, perched in Itachi's lap. Itachi had a taste for the rare and the beautiful, a taste that Haku fulfilled with his animals.

"Naruto? Come here. I brought a treat for you." Naruto cracked an eye open, a bright blue eye that looked as strange as it did breathtaking on a fox. Haku pulled out what looked like a sweet roll, something made specifically for the fox's sweet tooth. Naruto's eyes widened and he jumped out of Itachi's lap and trotted over to Haku. Haku rewarded him by feeding Naruto the sweet roll and petting him behind the ears much like he did with Gaara outside. "He seems to be doing very well."

"Yes. I think he's beginning to like this place now. It just took him some time to adjust, like all the animals here."

"At least he didn't bite you like Gaara did." Haku chuckled a bit when Itachi's eyes narrowed at the memory. Gaara had been... an interesting creature. A panther with sand colored skin mixed with a hint of red and bright green eyes. As soon as Itachi saw him he knew that he wanted him. Gaara, on the other hand, had seen things differently. A shredded shirt, business jacket, and a large cat's teeth marks in his hand later Itachi finally got Gaara to go with him, with much persuasion on Haku's part. Promises of everyday visits and being eternally in his debt finally convinced Gaara to listen to Haku and go with Itachi.

Gaara wasn't the most friendly creature in the world, only to a select few people. Namely Haku, especially Haku, Naruto because he was too cute to resist, never really Itachi but Gaara was as obedient as he was unfriendly, and finally...

"Down boy! Hey, stop that!"

Haku looked towards the door and shook his head, a small smile on his face from the sound coming from outside. "Ah. Sasuke is here."

Sasuke. Naruto's eyes shot up to the door and waited. It only took a few seconds for the young Uchiha to open the door, dressed in a blue button down shirt and black businessman pants, a knee-length open trench coat covering his outfit. He walked in petting the large panther and laughing a bit from Gaara nuzzling his hand and licking it. Almost the exact image of his older brother, Uchiha Sasuke had entered the company and shot up in the ranks almost as fast, if not faster, than Itachi did. Wild black hair instead of it being long and in a ponytail, Sasuke shared his brother's fate of being eternally good looking and forever desirable.

For some strange reason Gaara liked Sasuke, probably because when Sasuke saw him he petted him instead of telling him to stay by the door and be on guard like Itachi did. Sasuke paid attention to him when he came up to the office, what pet wouldn't like that?

"Gaara. Stop that before I get jealous." Haku teased. Gaara looked over at Haku then seemed to smirk at him before the panther licked Sasuke's face, very slowly, before he sauntered away. Haku laughed and Sasuke just looked as confused as he always did when it came to Haku and his treatment of the animals.

He acted as if they were human. Sasuke didn't get it.

Before Sasuke could walk over to Itachi's desk he found himself holding an armful of nine tailed fox.

"It's nice to see you too, Naruto." Sasuke smiled when Naruto began to give his face a bath, licking it happily in mad amounts of fox kisses.

Naruto really, **really** liked Sasuke.

"Well well, as usual Naruto loves it when Sasuke comes around." Haku gave Itachi an amused look. "Perhaps I gave the kitsune to the wrong Uchiha."

"Gave?" Itachi looked equally amused. "You gave me nothing. I paid you a rather high price if I remember correctly."

"Ah yes, of course." Haku turned his attention over to Sasuke who was still getting a healthy dose of fox kisses. "So what brings you here, young Uchiha? Just visiting your favorite fox?" If it were possible for a fox to do so Sasuke could've sworn that Naruto blushed.

"Actually I had to bring this up." Sasuke revealed the file folder stuffed with various papers for Itachi. "But a certain fox attacked me." And if it were possible for a fox to do so Sasuke could've sworn that Naruto had a falsely innocent look on his face. Then again foxes were sly creatures, so perhaps they could master that look.

"Ah. Thank you, Sasuke." Itachi glanced through the folder Sasuke handed him. "It appears that I'll be home late tonight. I have some last minute meetings and I don't know how long they will run."

It was definitely possible for a fox to look nervous, and for some reason Naruto appeared to be more tense than he was before Itachi said that. Sasuke didn't notice it, didn't really think it was necessary to look down at the fox to see how he reacted to what Itachi said.

Haku, on the other hand, did notice, and wore a completely unreadable expression on his face.

"All right then. I'll see you when you get home." Sasuke kneeled down and pet Naruto one last time before he turned to leave. Naruto watched Sasuke go with an almost sad, longing expression on his face. Itachi didn't pay the look any attention while Haku lightly pet Naruto on top of his head before he too bid Itachi farewell.

"Naruto." And it only took Itachi seconds to call Naruto over to him. Naruto took about three steps before Itachi gave him a smirk that was halfway between sinister and sensual. "Come now. You know what I want."

Naruto closed his eyes and with practiced amounts of concentration his form began to change. It didn't take very long for him to gain the body of a normal young man. Perfect colored peach skin with a hint of the fiery red of his normal fox coat and the wildest blond hair that couldn't belong to a human at all. As much practice as Naruto had of going from fox to human there were some things he couldn't get rid of. His cheeks were strained with whiskers that didn't want to go away and his fox ears and nine tails were still around, the tails covering his body like a kind of blanket. He had a feeling that if he tried hard enough he could get the ears and tails to go away, but Itachi liked them on him.

"Ita... chi..." It was always hard to use his voice after being a fox all day to hide from the various people who entered the office. Itachi simply nodded in greeting and waited for Naruto to come over to him. Once close enough he was pulled into a kiss Itachi had been waiting to share all day.

"It's nice to see you again, pet." Itachi pulled Naruto into his lap, letting his fingers move over each of his tails. Naruto slid his eyes shut in response and snuggled closer to Itachi. It was too damn hard to resist him, even if he knew what Itachi was going to say next. "We have a busy night ahead of us."

"Auc... tion?"

"Ah, that's right." Itachi opened the folder Sasuke had brought him and looked over the papers, studying each of them. There were several men listed, possible buyers in the auction Naruto spoke of. Also in the folder were pictures of animals, different animals that surprisingly belonged to Itachi himself.

Auction. Naruto looked away from the folder, already knowing what was going to happen tonight. Not to himself, of course, or to Gaara or Kisame. They belonged to Itachi and always would. But the animals in the folder...

"But we have some time before the auction." Itachi purred out into Naruto's ear. Naruto shivered in response and before he could blink he found his lips being crushed against Itachi's. And just like the obedient pet he was, he returned the kiss.

It was the reason why Itachi liked him best, after all.

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_End Kitsune._

_Next Chapter: Auction_

_Preview: _

"Gentlemen, relax, sit down and enjoy what you are about to see." Itachi stopped petting Naruto who was lying in his lap, looking around at all the cigar smoking, wine drinking, expensive suit wearing men. "Naruto, if you would please."

"Why do you speak to him as if he's human?" One man asked, a rather large man who looked like he used his money to make sure he was well fed.

"Because, my friend, he is." There were collective gasps of surprise then one man rolled over in laughter and disbelief.

"I think this life is too much for you, Uchiha. You're seeing things."

"Am I?" Itachi nodded to Naruto who jumped out of his lap. The fox faced all the men, obviously a bit reluctant to do as Itachi asked but what else could he do? Itachi was his master, and all pets knew that they were supposed to listen to their master, right?

_"But... Naruto?" _Naruto could remember what Haku had said to him the day Itachi came in, pointed his finger at him, and decided to bring him home. _"Pets also decide who that master will be. They decide who the person is that they want to listen to."_

_"I... want to..." _Naruto closed his eyes and let his fox form slip away. Ignoring the sounds of the men choking on their drinks in surprise Naruto revealed himself, his nine tails wrapping around his nude form like they always did. _"Itachi... is the only one who has come in for me. So that means he wants me, someone wants me."_

_"Oh, little Naruto. Don't you realize how beautiful you are? One day, I can't say when, but one day... someone will want you... who you will want in return. But, I suppose this is enough for now." _And Naruto stood there as the men surrounded him, brushed their fingers eagerly over his tails, his ears, and his body. And he stood there and remembered Haku's words.

"This is enough." Naruto whispered to himself. "For now."


	2. Auction

_**Pet**_

By: _Chibi_

_Notes_: O.K. I have to say thank you for all the reviews for this fic. I didn't expect it to go over so well, so thank you everyone! All right, so, here's how this fic is going to work (I hope). All the lemon parts to the fic will be posted elsewhere (just check out the links in my profile here on and there should be a few places to check for the lemons). I'm trying to write it in a way that'll make it so you don't **have **to read the lemon parts to understand the fic. Therefore, those who don't want to read the lemons don't have to, they won't miss anything.

On that note, he's part two. Yuri begins to show up in this part, and there's another yaoi pairing introduced along with a yuri couple I didn't expect.

There is a side chapter for this fic that takes place right after chapter one, showing what happened in Itachi's office once he was alone with Naruto. Yes, that means Itachi x Naruto, but there's also one more pairing in that chapter that's a surprise. If you want to read it, go check out one of my links in my profile (I usually post to the SasuNaru community first, so if you want it fast, go there).

_flashbacks_

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_Auction_

The door opened and Gaara looked up to see Itachi walk out with a rather satisfied look on his face, like a cat with a canary or some metaphor like that. In his arms was Naruto, back in the form of an ordinary fox, as if ordinary foxes had nine tails and coats the color of fire. Naruto lied there peacefully, enjoying the feeling of being petted all over by someone who was obsessed with feeling his fur anytime he could.

The door opened and Gaara looked up to see Itachi walk out with a rather satisfied look on his face, like a cat with a canary or some metaphor like that. In his arms was Naruto, back in the form of an ordinary fox, as if foxes had nine tails and coats the color of fire. Naruto lied there peacefully, enjoying the feeling of being petted all over by someone who was obsessed with feeling his fur anytime he could. 

Naruto opened his eyes enough to look at Gaara then gave a happy yelp and leaned forward, licking the side of his face. Gaara gave a tiny smile in response and petted the fox behind one of his ears.

"We're heading downstairs." Itachi informed Gaara of what was going on, as he always did when it was time for an auction.

"You're having another one already?" It was easy to find the sourness in Gaara's voice, easy to figure out that he hated these auctions. Secretly, or not so secretly, Naruto hated them too. Itachi was the type to know what you hated and just not give damn about it so perhaps he did notice Naruto completely freeze or grow pale, even in fox form, over the auction. What animal would enjoy seeing another animal being sold off? It was fine when Haku did it of course, his job was to get them into good homes. As much as they all loved the shop it was not where they were supposed to live.

Surely Haku didn't mean to sell them to a man whom bought his animals, kept the ones he wanted, then sold off the rest. If he ever found out...

"Yes, I'm having another one. Is there a problem?" And sometimes Gaara despised that thing pets had about being obedient to their masters.

"No. No problem at all." As a reward Itachi rubbed behind one of Gaara's ears, enjoying the sight of the human boy purring as if he were a cat right now. The best thing about these beautiful animals was the fact that they responded to your touch so wonderful, even if they were in a human form.

"Good. You may go for the day. You are no longer needed until tomorrow because Kisame will take your place." Gaara nodded his head, petted Naruto one more time and accepted one more fox kiss, then turned and headed to the elevator so he could leave. As he left there was the smallest of smirks on his face that neither Itachi or Naruto could see, but knowing Itachi he knew that the red head was smirking.

Gaara knew why he was able to go back home now. Itachi also knew the same thing Gaara did. And Naruto... well, it was quite the thing to see, a fox snickering over something.

At one of the first auctions Itachi held, when he first got Gaara and just had to show him off to everyone like some kind of eager, immature little five-year-old boy, Gaara had done something that the other pets called heroic, brave, and just too damn cool for words. Naruto hadn't been around at the time, still a kit in Haku's store, but oh he had heard stories downstairs in that place where the auction was held and oh you bet your life he asked Gaara and got the truth. The stories were absolutely true, nothing false about them. Pets did not mess up a good story, they told it the right way and in a proud voice, as if they themselves was the one who accomplished the task.

Gaara had done what Itachi asked that day. He had transformed into his human form, showed off pale flesh the color of sand, unruly red hair and the brightest and prettiest green eyes you had ever seen. He had let them touch him, pet him, feel that his skin still felt like the skin of a panther and listened to those cigar smoking wine drinking men go on and on about how deliciously good looking he was. Gaara showed no emotion whatsoever, he had just stood there because that's all he had been told to do. Stand there. And Gaara was obedient, yes he was, and would do what his master asked of him no matter what it was.

That was until, "Can I get a taste?" That was until that had been said. Some overly large, gross man who looked so desperate for sex that it was pitiful reached for Gaara with shaky hands and a hopeful expression on his face.

Just stand there.

So Gaara had stood and let the man grip onto his hips and pull him forward to try and kiss him, try and rub his body against him, try to get just one sweet taste of a forbidden fruit.

Gaara's eyes narrowed and he growled dangerously. The fat man had moved him out of his spot, the spot where he was supposed to stand, and not only that but had the nerve to try and kiss him **after **he moved him?

Everyone watched Gaara move faster than the human eye could see, and in a tenth of a second the man was down on his back with a sand colored panther biting his hand so hard that with one false move there would be bone visible instead of skin. The man had started begging to a god or two, saying something about a wife and kids and not wanting to die. Itachi had called Gaara back, made him let go, and reluctantly the panther pulled back but not before the fat man discovered he had a nice set of bleeding teeth marks in his hand. Some snake like man in the back had said something about, "Oh, feisty," and Gaara looked ready to skin the man with his teeth and claws. But with a strict order from Itachi to leave Gaara left that area and never returned.

The fat married pervert never returned either.

When Itachi brought it up afterwards he couldn't even say anything, because Gaara had reminded him that he was told to stand and stay put, nothing else. He never disobeyed Itachi that night, technically speaking, and even the Uchiha had to have a sense of humor at the sight of the poor guy praying up to the heavens above for a miracle.

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No one in the Uchiha building asked.

They just stared.

What could possibly be said? Their boss was heading down to the basement holding the nine tailed fox he was always petting in his office. So what, their boss had a nine tailed fox, they had all seen little Naruto before once or twice.

But...

... the large shark looking man walking with Itachi...

They just stared.

Frighteningly tall with sneaky, small black eyes that were surrounded by a face that looked like something out of Jaws. At least in his human form Kisame lost his blue skin, for that would truly scare the living crap out of the people who worked for Itachi. It was bad enough to see a large, shark looking human walk around... but to find out that this thing wasn't human? Itachi really didn't need to have everyone run away and quit their jobs in this seemingly normal business he ran.

Each step Itachi took with Kisame echoed in Naruto's ears as they got closer to the basement. He absolutely hated the basement, hated everything about it. The basement meant nothing but bad things ever since he had been brought to this place.

_"Are you sure?"_

_"What do you mean?" Naruto sat patiently by the window of the pet shop, waiting for that sleek black sports car to pull up and take him to his new home. New home... was he really about to leave this place? Leave this shop he had been brought into? That was the destiny of all pets, right? To be brought to a home._

_"Are you sure you want to go with this man?" Haku asked, standing with Naruto by the window. _

_"He chose me, so of course I have to go with him. Right? He's my new master so I have to listen to him, right?"_

Had to listen to him... Naruto had no problem with that... until the basement became involved.

The area looked pretty bare, from walking down the hallway it looked as if there was nothing of importance in this place. It looked like... a basement. That part of a building where the janitor roamed around, that part of a building that you never thought of going, never thought of hitting "**B**" when you were on the elevator. No one paid the basement any attention, but if they did... if they bothered to look further down they'd see why the basement was truly the most exotic place in the building, right up there with Itachi's office.

Itachi opened the only door in the basement and just like that they were introduced into another world. The room had a feeling of some kind of jungle, the wallpaper was made of leaves and the ceiling was lined in vines and other plants. There was actually what looked like a waterfall at the end of the room, the water falling into a pond and giving the room a complete outdoor feeling. The room itself was beyond words and Naruto would've loved to run around in it, but it was what took place in the room that made him dread every trip made there.

The first thing he heard was the sound of giggling, for the fish in the pond where now sitting at the edge of it, each one dressed in a colorful gown that was once their skin when they were all in their fish forms. Each one was playfully splashing water at the other, each one having a wonderful time. They didn't quite understand what took place in this room since none of the buyers really wanted something like a fish. Naruto looked around to see other animals appearing, wandering out from sleep or play to look at Itachi, their master. Half of them looked just as wary as Naruto did, already knowing what was going to happen tonight, already knowing what the word _auction _meant. The other half looked curious and wary at the same time, curious to know why the other animals looked scared yet not curious enough to ask, and definitely scared enough to not want to know the answer.

Two birds, one canary yellow and one strawberry pink, flew over to Naruto and begin chirping in his ear. The kitsune closed his eyes and a peaceful look crossed his face from the beautiful song they sang together for him. The two pretty birds always sang to him, always flew around and let him try to catch them for play. They always came to him when he was down here to try and cheer him up because they knew why Naruto dreaded this place.

He was the display pet.

Naruto was that one pet Itachi had, that pet Gaara was before, who he would always show off to the greedy humans who came to the auction to buy animals from Itachi.

Itachi sat himself in one of the chairs in the area, a throne looking piece of furniture to show that the Uchiha was a pretty conceited bastard, sitting in a throne amongst his rarest of pets. Kisame stood at his side and Naruto curled up in his lap, enjoying the feeling of Itachi petting his many tails and trying to use the feeling to clear his head. The little pink bird sat on top of his head, still chirping and still calming the fox with her song. The yellow bird, however, was participating in the fun activity of pissing shark dude off by flying around and pecking at his face when she found an opening. Kisame looked ready to eat her but restrained himself from doing so. Itachi would never allow such a thing to be done to one of his pets, no matter how annoying she was to Kisame.

It only took a few minutes for people to start arriving. Regular customers walked in first. The snake like man walked with who everyone assumed was a pet simply in human form. Attached to a collar and pressed against him, the pet looked quite content with being dominated like that in front of everyone. Itachi nodded to the pale skinned snake and his pet as they sat down on the ground, not even bothered with not having a chair. Immediately the pet curled up in the snake's lap, the human acting so much like the obedient pet that it was almost scary.

"Nice to see you again, Itachi."

"Same to you, Orochimaru. And Kabuto as well." Naruto made it a point not to look at them. These two were always at the auctions and Orochimaru was always, **always **trying to get Itachi to sell Naruto to him. This, of course, angered Kabuto but he never showed it, obedient pet he was.

"And how is little Naruto? Still in fox form until the show, as always." Orochimaru gave Naruto a slimy grin. "I look forward to seeing you again, fox." Naruto shuddered and the pink bird on top of his head chirped angrily at the snake like man, clearly telling him to back off. Kabuto growled, just a bit, not enough for anyone to really notice his distaste of the fox his master had become obsessed with.

Behind them more people began to show up, some regular customers, a lot of new timers. The whisper word of an auction in the business world intrigued them, tugged at their curiosity. Auction? Auctioning of what? Something rare, my friend, and something you've never seen before. But it's wrong, wrong to want to go, but how can you not want to go? It's Uchiha, it's forbidden, and you can't help but follow that curiosity Itachi's has awoken inside of you.

One person in particular walked in and as soon as she did Naruto and the two birds perked up. The only woman who ever came to the auctions but never, ever bought anything. She simply came to see the display of beautiful animals and nothing else because deep down she hated the idea of an auction as well. If she knew of Haku's shop she'd go there in person herself instead of sitting in at an auction. Along with the blond, pigtailed woman was another shorter woman who always stayed by her side. Rumors about them being lovers were certainly true, and neither bothered to hide it from the world since the blond had an arm wrapped around the shorter woman's waist.

That was the kind of ownership all the pets admired. To have someone for love and for no other reason but love. These two human women had quickly become the favorites among all the pets.

"Tsunade. Shizune. Welcome back." Shizune sat on the ground while Tsunade lied down with her head in the woman's lap, enjoying the feeling of her hair being petted.

"Thank you." Tsunade held her finger out and the pink little bird immediately flew onto it, the yellow one taking a seat on Shizune's head. "Why hello there, little Sakura." Sakura chirped happily in response as Tsunade moved one of her fingers down the bird's back, petting her. "And Ino?" The yellow bird made a sound in response, content at watching Sakura being petted by the woman.

Naruto made a soft whining noise and the four women, two human, two animal, laughed at him. Shizune was the first to respond to the fox's whining. "I think he's jealous that he's not getting any attention."

"He's a big baby, that's why." Tsunade laughed harder when Naruto stuck his tongue out at her. Meanwhile, Sakura flew off of Tsunade's finger and tugged at Naruto's ear playfully with her mouth. Behind them the rest of the crowd, who had been completely awed at the setting of the auction, wandered over and stared at the site of these two women talking with the animals, and Itachi looking like it was a completely normal action. Itachi simply nodded to everyone, telling them to sit down wherever they pleased be it ground or in one of the chairs set up if they preferred. Wine and cigars were offered, making it look a bit off to see men smoking and drinking in the middle of a jungle.

It was the reminder that this was not a jungle, but a basement. And this was an auction, not a reunion with good friends like Tsunade and Shizune.

"Gentlemen, relax, sit down and enjoy what you are about to see." Itachi stopped petting Naruto. "Naruto, if you would please."

"Why do you speak to him as if he's human?" One man asked. It was the question in everyone's head ever since they got there and saw the blond haired woman and her lover talking and playing with the animals as if they were children, not pets.

"Because, my friend, he is." There were collective gasps of surprise.

One man rolled over in laughter and disbelief. "I think this life is too much for you, Uchiha." Because the life of a rich businessman was so much to handle, of course. "You're seeing things." Tsunade, Shizune, Orochimaru and Kabuto didn't bother to respond. They knew the truth and had seen it several times. They knew what was coming next, and Tsunade gave Naruto a sorrowful look because she knew that he hated this more than anything. Orochimaru, on the other hand, had eyes that shown with anticipation at what was about to come.

"Am I?" Itachi nodded to Naruto who jumped out of his lap. The fox faced all the men, obviously a bit reluctant to do as Itachi asked but what else could he do? Itachi was his master and all pets knew that they were supposed to listen to their master, right?

"_But... Naruto?" _Naruto could remember what Haku had said to him the day Itachi came in, pointed his finger at him, and decided to bring him home. _"Pets also decide who that master will be. They decide who the person is that they want to listen to."_

"_I... want to..." _Naruto closed his eyes and let his fox form slip away. Ignoring the sounds of the men choking on their drinks in surprise Naruto revealed himself, his nine tails wrapping around his nude form like they always did. _"Itachi... is the only one who has come in for me. So that means he wants me, someone wants me."_

"_Oh, little Naruto. Don't you realize how beautiful you are? One day, I can't say when, but one day... someone will want you... who you will want in return. But, I suppose this is enough for now." _So Naruto stood there as the men surrounded him, brushed their fingers eagerly over his tails, his ears, and his body. And he stood there and remembered Haku's words.

"This is enough." Naruto whispered to himself. "For now."

"He's breathtaking, Uchiha. Where did you find him?"

"Such a beautiful face, beautiful body..."

"... he's soft! Did you feel him? He's so soft!" Tsunade rolled her eyes and muttered something about stupid men who just had to touch everything they thought looked good. It was possible to just look and not touch.

"And as lovely as always." Orochimaru stood and walked over to Naruto who made his tails cover himself up more. This man, gods how he despised this filthy man's voice, hands, everything. Kabuto watched with slightly narrowed, jealous eyes as all the other men who had been previously ogling Naruto stepped away, as if Orochimaru's very presence near them urged them to move and let him have his time with the fox.

Naruto backed away and Orochimaru chuckled. "Aww, don't be like that. Come here." Naruto shook his head and took another step back while Tsunade and Shizune glared at the man, both Ino and Sakura chirping wildly as well. Itachi frowned from where he was sitting, showing his disapproval of Naruto saying no.

"Naruto. You heard him."

"But... I..." _"Pets also decide who that master will be. They decide who the person is that they want to listen to." _"I... I don't want to..."

"What?" Itachi was very close to glaring. "You don't want to? Is that what you said?"

"I..." His voice trailed off into a cry of protest when Orochimaru pushed his tails away and purred from being able to see Naruto completely naked, no tails covering anything.

"... you? Yes, you are absolutely delicious." Orochimaru looked back over at Itachi. "Name your price, I want him."

"We go through this all the time, Orochimaru. That one is mine." Itachi suddenly smirked. "But... feel free to have a taste if you must."

"Oh yes. I think I will." _One day, I can't say when, but one day... someone will want you... _Orochimaru reached for Naruto but before he could grab him he ended up hissing in pain and drawing his hand back. Angry claw marks lined Orochimaru's hand, the marks bleeding pretty badly. All the pets and the people attending the auction were in complete silence as they saw Naruto glare hatefully at Orochimaru, his claws much sharper and edged with blood from him scratching the man. And his eyes... his eyes were actually red, the color of a great blaze of fire. _... who you will want in return. _

"Don't touch me..."

"Naruto!" Itachi stood from his chair, glaring, but for the first time ever Naruto glared back at him, actually growling.

"I don't want him touching me!"

"Oh don't worry, little fox. I'm not going to touch you." Orochimaru waited for Naruto to try and scratch him again but to everyone's surprise he moved fast enough, faster than a fox, and caught Naruto's wrist and pulled him against his body. "I'm going to taste you." And to Naruto's horror the disgusting creature captured his lips in a deep and unwanted kiss. Behind them Kabuto glared at Naruto, silently blamed his master's obsession with the fox on the fox himself despite the fact that Naruto fought against Orochimaru. The last thing Kabuto wanted was to blame his beloved master for something.

The others in the auction looked quite impressed, murmuring amongst themselves about how feisty Naruto was and how exciting that feeling had to be of finally dominating the creature. Itachi smirked and sat back down in his chair while Shizune looked away, not wanting to see, and Tsunade began to chant a couple of death threats under her breath towards Orochimaru.

Seeing Naruto look so absolutely disgusted and pale, as if he wanted to throw up and take the longest shower in the world, made Sakura more than a little angry. Naruto had done nothing to deserve this and had become her friend. The last thing she wanted to see was her friend whimpering and suffering, begging someone for help but not having anyone hear him since Orochimaru was too busy devouring his lips. Without a second thought the little pink bird flew up, zoomed after Orochimaru and began pecking and biting him wherever she could.

"Sakura! Stop this at once!" But she didn't listen to Itachi, at the moment the Uchiha man could go and fuck himself but she was not going to let Naruto continue doing this. It didn't take very long for Orochimaru to finally stop kissing Naruto to glare at the little pink bird but in response she nipped his ear so hard that if she were just a bit stronger she could've quite possibly bit it off.

"Filthy creature, stop it!" Orochimaru reached back to slap Sakura away but before he could a hand grabbed his wrist and squeezed it, hard.

"You touch her and I'll claw your eyes out." Orochimaru turned and stood face to face with a very pissed off looking Ino. Long blond hair trapped in a ponytail, bright blue eyes narrowed in anger. The girl had yellow feathers tattooed down her arms and spine as her only form of clothing since she just transformed. The tattoos actually moved over her body as she gripped Orochimaru's wrist tighter, almost breaking it.

"That's enough, both of you!" Itachi shouted. Ino shoved Orochimaru away who decided that it was best to just sit down and not try anything else.

"That was quite the show, Uchiha." One man said amongst the crowd, stepping up. He locked eyes with Ino and grinned. "I think I know what I want."

"No!" Before she could even think of what she was doing, before she could even realize that revealing herself was probably a bad move, Sakura transformed and held onto Ino tightly. Unlike Ino, Sakura's hair was short and pink, almost looking like it had been chopped off. She was also naked like Ino was and along the entire right side of her body she was tattooed in pink feathers. In a few places, like along her breast and the small of her back, the tattoos were actually real feathers, giving her a more inhuman yet beautiful appearance. "You can't take her away!"

"Oh, she's pretty as well." Another man spoke up around a puff of cigar smoke. "I think I want that one."

Itachi simply nodded and Tsunade frowned. "You're really going to allow these two to be separated? You see how close they are."

"Itachi..." Naruto spoke up softly but stopped when he saw the glare on Itachi's face, telling him to stay quiet. "Bu-but... the contract..."

"Contract?" The man who wanted Ino asked curiously. Itachi glared harder at Naruto while the man wasn't looking.

"It's nothing of importance." Itachi nodded to both of the men. "If no one else wants these two lovely creatures..."

"Wait! I would like the pink one." Another man spoke. Then another spoke about wanting Ino, two speaking about Sakura again, one more about Ino. Both girls held each other tightly, trying to block the sounds of the prices rising higher and higher for them, ignoring words like _companion, someone to warm my bed, a gift to share with my lover_.

Itachi simply grinned at the growing numbers while Tsunade looked over at Naruto who was watching Ino and Sakura sadly, not able to say anything in their defense. But he wanted to, and Itachi knew he wanted to. Tsunade frowned quietly to herself and just focused her attention on Naruto.

Contract? What was that supposed to mean?

Finally two men won the auction, one who wanted Sakura as someone to warm his bed and another who wanted to share Ino with his lover. Naruto covered his ears when the two men tried to pry Ino and Sakura apart, the two girls screaming a sad song loudly, not wanting to be away from each other. Naruto looked over at Itachi, wondering if he was going to stop these two men but he simply sat there, watching with an uninterested look on his face.

How could he let this happen? He knew that... _"... there are rules to follow in keeping these pets."_

_"You give me this speech with all the pets, Haku." Itachi looked over the birdcage with both Ino and Sakura in it, the two birds singing happily to each other._

_"Ah yes, that's true. But you will do well to remember the rules with these two." Haku handed the cage to Itachi then spoke again. "These two are loverbirds. They are to stay together at all times and to never be separated. This shop, and myself, will not be held responsible for the damages that could be done if you break these rules."_

"No! INO!"

"SAKURA!"

_Haku watched Itachi leave with the two birds, a small smirk on his face. "For if you break the rules... those two will stop at nothing to find each other again." _

"I'll find you again, I promise. I promise Ino, I'll find you again."

"I know you will." Ino's eyes suddenly grew cold as she got a good look at the man taking Sakura away from her. Sakura did the same thing, green eyes narrowed and bordering on being the color of blood as she let her eyes roam over the man stealing Ino.

_"Loverbirds can't live without each other so can never be separated. So please be careful, Uchiha Itachi."_

_

* * *

__End Auction_

_Next Chapter: Yume_

_Preview: _

"This is a dream, right?" Sasuke asked, his voice much softer then he expected it to be. The creature straddling his hips giggled, a beautiful sound that actually caused Sasuke to shiver as if in pleasure.

"You can call it a dream if you want, Sasuke." The creature leaned forward and without warning licked very slowly at Sasuke's lips in a fox's imitation of a kiss. Sasuke's eyes widened and only one thing came to mind when he felt that kiss. He had a kiss like that before, several times when his brother's pet fox jumped into his arms in a bundle of fur and tails and attacked his face with his tongue.

"Na-Naruto?"


	3. Yume

_**Pet**_

By: _Chibi_

_Notes_: The SasuNaru part of the fic begins to show up in this chapter. Thanks for the good comments for the last chapter. Hope you all enjoy this one.

_flashbacks_

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_"You got another pet, oniisan?" Sasuke gave his brother an almost wary look when the older man nodded his head. Not that he minded the animals or anything but Itachi was pretty obsessed. Obsessed to the point that soon his office would look like a zoo and not an office. Obsessed to the point that all his money seemed to be going into getting these pets from Haku's shop. How did his brother manage to run a business and take care of all these animals at the same time? And these weren't ordinary animals either. Sasuke had heard of people who had maybe two dogs, or maybe a few too many cats, perhaps tons of fish scattered in bowls or tanks all around their house. But Itachi... the animals he brought back were simply unheard of. A sand colored panther? And keeping a shark? What about those loverbirds, what the hell was a loverbird anyway? Did such a thing exist? _

_"I guess I can't help myself. Do you want to see him, Sasuke?"_

_"Sure. What did you get this time?" Trying to talk Itachi out of buying so many animals was impossible. It wasn't like he didn't have the money or the means to do such a thing. Sasuke had heard that wealthy people all possessed something they couldn't live without, something they just kept buying and buying ridiculous amounts of. Some had a large number of cars, so many that they'd have a different vehicle to drive depending on what day of the week it was. Some took risks with their money, gambling in casinos, betting on horses, able to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars in less than twenty-four hours and just laugh it off. _

_Buying expensive, exotic animals was what Uchiha Itachi did with his money. And he was so wealthy **and **so good at his job that whatever he lost from buying something like a shark could be earned back and tripled overnight._

_"I bought something I have never, ever seen before." Of course Itachi always said this before he showed off one of his new pets. Every animal that came from Haku's shop was something never, ever seen before. "Come on out, Naruto."_

_And before Sasuke's eyes a fire colored fox emerged from underneath Itachi's desk. Bright blue eyes locked onto Sasuke's and pulled the boy in deep, not letting him go. Nine, not one or two but **nine **tails wagged behind the creature, and Sasuke could do nothing but stare. All of his brother's pets were different, rare, captivating, beautiful in their own way but this one, this Naruto..._

_"He's... breathtaking." Naruto's eyes widened when he heard that. He had been called breathtaking so many times but this time... for some reason... that boy..._

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_Yume_

"What did you think you were doing tonight?" Naruto blinked and glanced over at Itachi, wincing at the look that was on his master's face. He knew that Itachi would be upset with him. He had actually said no to him, refused to do something. And... he almost attacked a customer. Even if that customer was a slimy snake like Orochimaru that didn't excuse what Naruto had done.

"I... I didn't want him to... touch me..." Naruto lowered his head as Itachi drove them home. His tails were wrapped around him, as always, like a blanket. Itachi never let Naruto wear clothes for they were a useless thing for someone who looked much better when naked. With black tinted windows no one could look inside to see something strange like a naked fox creature, and in the off chance that someone did look inside the car Naruto could shift back to his fox form.

"You didn't want?" Itachi stopped the car at a stoplight then reached over, forcing Naruto to look up at him by grabbing onto his chin. Naruto cried out in protest and for a second thought about pulling away but remembered that Itachi was his master. It was bad enough that he didn't do as the man had asked, but to actually resist him? That would only make things ten million times worse. "Now, what's wrong with that sentence?"

"I... but I didn't want him touching me!" Perhaps if he screamed it loud enough Itachi would understand. Perhaps he'd understand how disgusting Naruto felt when that Orochimaru snake put his hands, his lips, his anything on him. Perhaps he'd understand that Naruto really didn't want to be near that thing, that Naruto was an obedient pet really but Orochimaru was the limit to his obedience.

"Naruto." Itachi's eyes narrowed dangerously and absorbed the fear coming off of the pet's body. "If you ever yell at me, ever disobey me, then I won't hesitate to let Orochimaru have you for at least one night."

"Wh-what?" Naruto's eyes widened in horror. "You... you can't do that..."

"I can't? Are you telling me what to do now?"

"No... no I'm not... I..." Naruto swallowed and closed his eyes. "... I won't... disobey you again, Itachi-sama."

"Very good." Itachi pulled Naruto close for a harsh, hard kiss to emphasize his point. Itachi was serious, dead serious, and Naruto could taste that on his master's lips. Mess up again and I'll be sure you suffer. Naruto closed his eyes and did what any good, frightened pet did in a situation like this.

He returned Itachi's kiss with waves of submission. I understand, I do as you say with no questions asked. What I want doesn't matter as long as you're happy.

It was a kiss that made the Uchiha man weak in the knees. He completely ignored the cars beeping behind him since the light was now green and instead placed both of his hands against the sides of Naruto's face, holding the fox's head in place as he greedily devoured his lips. Naruto didn't pull back, didn't stop the kiss even if it was hard to breathe. He had learned long ago how to breathe through his nose during these hard, heart-pounding kisses Itachi gave him. He had learned long ago that the best thing to do was to return the kiss, to whimper and whine into it. To kiss his master with a desperate excitement that always turned Itachi on so much that all they had to do was kiss for him to completely lose his mind.

It was Itachi who broke the kiss, panting softly for air and licking his lips to try and savor the kiss. At that point the cars drove around him and he received the occasional flick of the middle finger for not moving during a green light. Itachi reached for the steering wheel so he could drive off but was taken completely off guard when Naruto climbed into his lap and kissed him again.

Itachi wasn't the type to protest something so delicious. He simply wrapped his arms around Naruto's waist and pulled him impossibly close and returned his kiss without question. Naruto knew all the right buttons to push, knew what kind of sound to make when Itachi deepened the kiss and sensually pushed his tongue past Naruto's lips. He knew how slowly to move his tongue against Itachi's to drive the man nuts, to arouse him, and knew how to imitate the movements they made during sex with just his lips and nothing else.

Naruto knew what to do to make Itachi happy after he got mad at him. He had learned long ago to never, ever let Itachi go home upset with him.

The consequences for that had left Naruto scared and close to tears many nights.

So Naruto learned, learned how to steal Itachi's ability to think with just a kiss in the car. Learned that he didn't have to _touch _his master at all to get him to tremble in pleasure like he was doing now. Learned that kissing could be the most sexual act done to a person, and if there was one thing Naruto knew how to do it was how to kiss a person. Learned that kissing was much better to do when Itachi was mad, because it would calm him down to the point that he'd forget what he was mad about. And Naruto had become so damn good at it that it not only calmed him down, it turned him on. And Naruto had become so damn good at it that there was no need to go any further than kissing.

Just what Naruto wanted. Because going any further with Itachi when he was mad...

... the consequences for that... had left Naruto scared... and close to tears... many nights.

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Naruto couldn't help but smile at the sight of his master sleeping. The man had been asleep for a total of three hours and twenty-seven minutes, Naruto knew this because he had been watching Itachi sleeping ever since he closed his eyes.

Itachi always looked best when he was asleep.

When he was asleep he looked peaceful and surprisingly sweet, almost innocent. Maybe it was because those piercing eyes were closed, or because that frown he always wore had been put to rest. Itachi, when he slept, didn't look like the kind of man who auctioned animals off to creepy things like Orochimaru, didn't look like the kind of man who could scare you with just the right look or just the right tone of voice.

Itachi, when he slept, looked like the kind of person you could fall in love with.

Naruto curled up against Itachi more, a small frown on his face. Why was it like that only when Itachi slept? Why couldn't he be like that when he was awake. Itachi was his master and that fact alone made Naruto love him. Pets always loved the one who finally gave them a home, right? At least that's what Naruto use to think.

Ino and Sakura certainly wouldn't love their new masters.

As for Naruto loving Itachi... love? Well, he was grateful that Itachi gave him a home. And yes, when Itachi wasn't scaring him or being mean he did love the moments they had together even if those moments were usually, if not always, sex. Not that the sex wasn't great, that wasn't the problem at all, but... _"Oh, little Naruto. Don't you realize how beautiful you are? One day, I can't say when, but one day... someone will want you... who you will want in return. But, I suppose this is enough for now." _Was it... no longer enough?

Watching Itachi when he was sleeping... was that not enough anymore? How could that be? Naruto was a pet and pets were supposed to please their masters no matter what. It wasn't supposed to matter if it was enough or not, no matter what Haku had told him before.

Right?

Naruto watched Itachi for a few more minutes before he sat up and stared out of the window. As carefully as he could he slipped out of the bed so he could get a better look at the moon and the stars. A small smile crossed Naruto's face and he waved at the stars winking at him, his tails wagging behind him. He remembered days in the pet shop when Haku would laugh at him because he always waved to the stars as if they were alive and he could grab onto them. Those were very happy times and at times, selfishly, Naruto would wish to be returned to the pet shop. But then he'd rethink it because Itachi was his master now. He'd rethink it because of the look of Itachi's sleeping face, that damn heart-melting look. It was hard to believe, so damn hard to believe that that same person was able to shatter Naruto completely with just a flick of the wrist.

Maybe that was why...

_"Yes, he is quite breathtaking isn't he?" Itachi sounded as if he were presenting the best of prizes, something along the lines of a trophy made of the most expensive gold. _

_"Is he friendly? Will he let me pet him?" Naruto looked up at... was Sasuke his name? His master's little brother. He was... asking for permission to pet him? From the amount of time he had known Itachi, permission was not a thing Uchiha men asked for. But here this guy was, this almost exact copy of his master only younger, **asking **to pet him._

_"He should." Itachi looked down at Naruto. "Go on. He won't hurt you." Naruto moved over to Sasuke until he was standing right in front of him. Once he did that the younger Uchiha kneeled down and held his hand out. Naruto stared at the hand then back up at Sasuke, waiting for something to happen._

_Nothing did._

_What was he doing holding his hand out like that? He had seen Haku do that to him when they first met him. The beautiful man had kneeled down and held his hand out until Naruto walked over and..._

_... Naruto leaned forward and sniffed at Sasuke's hand and couldn't help the soft, purring sound that left his lips. Sasuke... his scent... gods it smelled so deliciously good and sweet that Naruto couldn't stop himself from rubbing his nose against Sasuke's hand. A small smile crossed Sasuke's face in response and he took his other hand and began to do the most desired thing one could do to a fox._

_He pet Naruto behind his ears._

_And after that... _Naruto closed his eyes and shivered from the memory, hugging himself tightly. After that... Sasuke had been a reason to stay.

At first it started off small. Sasuke paid so much attention to him what animal wouldn't like that? Then it grew a bit more.

Too much more.

Naruto had realized that Sasuke looked so dangerously close to Itachi that maybe... if he closed his eyes and pretended enough... Sasuke could **be **Itachi. Sasuke could be his master, could be the one he answered to. And Naruto wouldn't mind, wouldn't think thoughts like returning to the shop. Thinking of Sasuke as Itachi made things better, at least, it did for a while.

"Only for a while, because..." Naruto's eyes widened and he looked towards the door when he heard footsteps. He stood perfectly still and just listened, a small smile growing that he didn't even realize had appeared on his face.

Sasuke was going to sleep.

Without even thinking about what he was doing Naruto walked out of the room, careful not to wake Itachi. He didn't realize that this was cutting into his watching Itachi sleep time. He didn't realize that he didn't really need to go and see Sasuke's face to get his reminder of a nice Itachi, because Itachi was asleep and that was the best time to watch the older man. He didn't realize that his mind had clicked right to Sasuke... and not Itachi.

He didn't even think about it, instead Naruto quietly poked his head into Sasuke's room just in time to see him sink into the bed and fall asleep. Sasuke had one of those beds that put you to sleep as soon as you laid down in it. Naruto had snuck into his room several times when Itachi wasn't around and found himself lulled to sleep by ridiculously soft covers and a boy who had a fascination with petting his fur. Sasuke would start with the ears and move his hand down to the nine tails, petting each and every one of them, and he wouldn't stop until Naruto had become a mass of sleeping fox.

Then Sasuke would kiss the top of his head, whisper goodnight into his ear, and curl up with him and fall asleep. And Naruto treasured those times more than he should. In fact at times he'd wondered when Itachi's next business trip was so he could sneak into Sasuke's room and experience things like that again.

Sasuke. Each time... each moment they spent together Naruto would forget. He'd forget that Sasuke was his Itachi and instead he'd remember that this was Sasuke. Sasuke was Sasuke, and Sasuke was kind to him. Sasuke was beautiful and Sasuke was the one who took such good care of him that many times Naruto felt like he was walking on clouds and not the ground.

"Sasuke..." Naruto wanted to tell him all this so badly. He wanted to tell this boy what he had done for him. This boy who started out as his Itachi but had become...

"Sasuke..." Naruto walked into the room once he was sure that Sasuke was sleeping. He had never ever come into this room in his human form, tails wagging nervously behind him as he watched Sasuke sleep. Sasuke could wake up and see him like this but wasn't that what Naruto wanted? So he could talk to him, for the first time have a conversation with this boy. "Sasu..." Sasuke rolled over, onto his back, his lips parted slightly as he continued to sleep. Naruto smiled as a stray strand of black moved to rest in between Sasuke's eyes, close to tickling his nose.

What happened next, Naruto decided, was something that couldn't be helped.

Naruto climbed on top of Sasuke as he usually did in his fox form when the younger Uchiha slept and Itachi was away. He moved the strand of hair away from Sasuke's face and watched his eyes flutter open. Naruto's first instinct was to turn into a fox again but his heart shut that idea up. Because... o_ne day, I can't say when, but one day... _"Wh-what?" Sasuke rubbed his eyes and looked up, trying to wake up and fully comprehend what he was seeing.

A boy? With ears and a tail? Several tails?

Naruto watched him silently, looked into those dark eyes that weren't red, that didn't scare him when they were open, that if they wanted to could make him fall in love with them and cherish them more than anything in this world. Sasuke's eyes were something Naruto begged to the gods to have Itachi's eyes look like but his prayers were never answered. Itachi was his master, a master with eyes that terrified Naruto more than half the time, but... pretending that this boy was Itachi... was he even playing pretend anymore? S_omeone will want you... who you will want in return. _"I... want..."

But he interrupted him. "This is a dream, right?" Sasuke asked, his voice much softer than he expected it to be. The creature straddling his hips giggled, a beautiful sound that actually caused Sasuke to shiver as if in pleasure.

"You can call it a dream if you want, Sasuke." The creature leaned forward and without warning licked very slowly at Sasuke's lips in a fox's imitation of a kiss. Sasuke's eyes widened and only one thing came to mind when he felt that kiss. He had a kiss like that before, several times when his brother's pet fox jumped into his arms in a bundle of fur and tails and attacked his face with his tongue.

"Na-Naruto?"

"That's right." Naruto smiled down at Sasuke. "I'm... Naruto."

"This... this can't be right. This can't be real. I have to be dreaming, I **have **to be." Naruto's face fell. He didn't believe it, didn't believe him. He could easily turn back into a fox to prove it but... how would Sasuke react to the truth? Would he believe it, would he call it a dream again?

_Yume... _but if he did would that be so bad? This wasn't supposed to be happening anyway, was it? Itachi was still his master. So... this was a dream, wasn't it? Because tomorrow Naruto would be in Itachi's lap and things would be back to normal.

Did Naruto really want that?

"Sasuke..." Naruto closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Look at me."

"What? I am looking at you."

"No. I mean... look at me. Really look at me. I want your eyes on me, all over me." Sasuke just stared at Naruto, not really knowing how to respond. What in the seven hells was going on? This creature who claimed to be his brother's fox, this... beautiful...

... and just like that, Sasuke's eyes moved. Moved all over Naruto's body, caressed it and made love to it so sweetly that Naruto just had to shiver in response. And then he did the most desired thing he could do for Naruto, to Naruto, with Naruto.

He said his name.

"Naruto."

He said his name... and for a moment he believed. For a moment Naruto wasn't Itachi's. For a moment Sasuke wasn't a pretend decoy of Itachi. For a moment Sasuke looked at him so intensely that Naruto felt as if the boy had wrapped his arms around him and kissed him so good that the world shifted off course to some other galaxy from the pleasure, the passion, the everything about a kiss. Tasted like a handful of exotic colors and felt like an enormous amount of moans and cries for more.

Gods... "Sasuke." Kiss me, kiss me please. Sasuke could read the look in this creature's eyes because it mirrored his own. Was this really the fox his brother got from Haku? That fox who ran to him and loved him to death with small little licks to his face and cute snuggling against his chest? Could this really be possible?

For a moment... it didn't even matter. Dream or not, real or not, Sasuke knew what he saw, knew what he looked at.

"Naruto."

"Hm?"

"Look at me." Naruto's eyes widen and he stared at Sasuke, not knowing what to say to that. "Look at me, and tell me right now what you see."

"I... I see that... you want..."

"Want?" Sasuke reached his hand up and rested it against the side of Naruto's face. He was surprised that he wasn't hesitant about touching this creature that logically couldn't be real, but... he looked at him. Looked at him and saw that at least in this moment... he was real. "Look at me, Naruto." Sasuke's voice dropped down into a tone that actually made Naruto moan helplessly in pleasure. "Look at me, Naruto, and tell me right now what you see."

"I... I see..." Something wonderful. Something that he couldn't begin to describe even if he tried. He saw his master's face staring back at him, only Itachi's face always held something dangerous, something that was meant to stay away from. Sasuke... Sasuke's face only held something beautiful, maybe a bit mysterious but eternally enchanting and desired. He had thought that only Haku's animals could be this appealing. "I see... something amazing..."

"Really?" Sasuke sat up, Naruto still sitting in his lap and watching him. "I see the same thing." Naruto gasped softly when he felt Sasuke's hand move behind his head to gently pull him closer, so close that their lips were almost touching. "I see something simply amazing, so amazing that I just have to..."

"Sa-Sasuke..." What was happening? Was he really about to kiss him? He knew that he started out playing pretend, pretending that this young man was his master, his Itachi. But kissing him... wasn't that going a bit far? "Sasuke, I can't kis-mmph!"

Sasuke could be just like his brother if he wanted to be. Just like Itachi, Sasuke got what he wanted when he really, truly wanted it. You could say no, you could say can't, you could say don't but those words never applied to any Uchiha when they wanted something. Sasuke had no idea if this was real or not. If it was one of those too damn realistic dreams or if it really was as real as this feeling he was getting from kissing this creature.

No, not a creature.

Naruto.

Naruto who had lips so soft and kissed so slowly that he made it impossible to think, to breathe. To see straight, to hear correctly. Sasuke caressed Naruto's face with both of his hands, gently guiding him closer, close enough to taste the silk and feel the honey of his lips. Naruto did his best to return the kiss but he felt deliciously dizzy and was scared to open his eyes in fear of the room spinning and collapsing under his feet. This... this was not the boy he envisioned as his Itachi.

This was simply Sasuke.

Sasuke who had lips that burned into Naruto's soul, heated his skin and entire body. Sasuke who had the kind of lips that made your toes curl and made you purr like a kitten being fed fresh fish with the most delicate of fingers while being petted nonstop. Itachi's lips were not like Sasuke's, no not at all. They both could kiss you senseless and make you forget your own name, but Itachi had lips that were hard and demanded attention, lips that were sexy and intimidating all at once. But Sasuke... Sasuke had lips that made you feel blessed to even have them brush against yours. And when he kissed you, gods... Naruto thought he was the only one who knew how to kiss slowly and pleasurably. But here Sasuke was, kissing him just as slowly, if not **slower! **With plenty of time to breathe in between kisses so they could do it for years if they wanted. They could have conversations during these types of kisses, whisper secrets to each other and spice the kisses up with words.

"Sasuke..." Kiss. "... pl-please." Kiss. Longer, slower. Deeper, gods too damn deep! Naruto could feel the sugar of Sasuke's lips, not taste it, but **feel **it! It drove him crazy, absolutely mad.

"Please what?" Kiss.

"Stop." Kiss.

"Why?" Kiss. Foreheads resting together. Sasuke began to trail tiny kisses over Naruto's cheeks, all over his face to make his skin tingle. "Why should I stop?"

"I..."

"... look at me, Naruto."

"Wh-what?" He couldn't do it. If Naruto looked at him Sasuke would be able to see that the last thing on his mind was stopping. "I... I can't."

"Why?" Kiss.

"Be-because..." Kiss.

"Look at me." He couldn't do it! If he did...

"N-no..."

"Why?"

"Because if I do I'd fall in love with you!" They both stared at each other and couldn't find the right things to say.

He'd fall in love, simple as that.

He had already fallen for him when he began to play pretend, began to pretend that Sasuke was his Itachi. He began to love him like he wished he could've loved Itachi, loved him like he knew he couldn't love Itachi. He loved Itachi like any pet loved their master, loved him obediently and because he was supposed to. But he loved Sasuke, loved _his Itachi_ like any pet loved, _truly _loved their master.

Because master was the first thing you thought of in the morning, the one you rushed to and jumped into the bed with to wake him up so you could see that smile. When you truly loved your master you didn't lie on the ground in the hallway and wait for him to come out, you ran to him as soon as you woke up. Ran to the door when you heard him coming up the driveway. Sat by his side when he ate, brushed his teeth, you did anything and everything to be near him and whined when he was away.

Naruto wasn't like that with Itachi. He was like that with _his Itachi_. But... after that kiss... probably sometime before that when Naruto couldn't identify what it was...

... _his Itachi _had died, and Sasuke had been born into his heart. And now Naruto went to Itachi's office patiently awaiting Sasuke's visit upstairs. And now Naruto whined when Sasuke left.

And now Naruto had shared his kiss with Sasuke and actually... _because if I do I'd fall in love with you!_ Naruto broke the silence between them by getting out of the bed and heading to the door.

"Wait." Sasuke hesitated for a moment, then spoke again. "Naruto?" Naruto stopped at the door but didn't look back. "Was this... really a dream?"

"You can call it a dream if you want, Sasuke" Naruto reached for the doorknob but was stopped when Sasuke spoke again.

"Why?"

"What?"

"Why is it... up to me? Why is it... if I call it a dream?"

And Naruto said something that told Sasuke all the truth, all the difference between dream and reality that he needed to know. "Because... I'm a pet."

And just like that, the dream, _yume_, was gone.

_End Yume_

_----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

_Next Chapter: Truth_

_Preview:_

Haku stood by the door, an unreadable expression on his face.

So... that was the reason why Itachi bought all those animals.

Not only that, but he had the nerve to touch what was his.

Itachi was lucky enough to convince Haku to sell him Naruto. That was something the pet shop owner had been hesitant to do. Naruto was still young and there was a great chance that he couldn't handle a man like Itachi. That was what his training had really been for.

"I... tachi..." But for Itachi to even **think **about touching his most precious animal, his most precious...

"Relax... Gaara."

"N-no... I'm not... supposed to..."

"Supposed to what? You belong to me, Gaara, and you do as I say." ... for Itachi to even think, to even fucking **think **about touching Gaara...

Haku's unreadable expression changed, changed into something so cold and so deadly that if he wanted to he could open the door and shatter Itachi completely if he wanted to by simply raising an eyebrow at him. But this was Haku and he played the game in a much more... deliciously sadistic way. Itachi was nothing but an eager child who had made the mistake of playing with the wrong man.

After that, Haku smirked at the door and listened to Itachi and Gaara. Listened so closely that he was able to see every part of Gaara that was being touched. He knew Gaara's sounds that well while Itachi was simply learning them for the first time. Haku knew it was the first time, because Gaara was his and he knew immediately when his Gaara had been touched.

This was Itachi's first time playing with fire. What he didn't know was that Haku controlled the flames he was playing with.


	4. Truth

**_Notes_**: Big huge apologies for this taking so long. This chapter did not want to get written I swear. Anyhow, here's part 4. A bit of Gaara and Naruto, and another pairing that makes a certain pet store owner upset. Another note, there is a side chapter, chapter 3a, that is currently up on the SasuNaru community (the link is in my profile) and that will be up on all the other pages I have in my profile. The side chapter is a lemon featuring Haku and Gaara, and another character is introduced that might interest some people (if you don't want to read the lemon then you don't have to, the new character leaves before the lemon begins)

In fact, let's just do this: TEASER FROM SIDE CHAPTER 3A! Here is the new character and the part he is in. He will most likely show up more in the fic. Enjoy the teaser:

* * *

"They're really amazing, you know?" Haku took a sip from his glass, the alcohol flavored strawberry drink slipping down his throat. He set his glass down and leaned back in his chair, offering the man talking with him a tiny smile. 

"Who are?" The man took a healthy gulp of beer, drinking it like it was nothing but a tall glass of water. Haku made a face, wondering how his friend could stand drinking something that didn't have a nice name like _daiquiri_ and had no kind of fruit flavor to it. But that was the kind of person he was, this Zabuza creature. Completely rough around the edges, the kind of guy you'd hear the best whispered rumors about. _I heard he could snap your neck like a twig. I heard he could catch a dagger with his teeth then use it on you, even if both of his arms are broken. He's a demon, this Zabuza creature._

Demon wasn't the right word to use. Wolf, however, was the perfect word to use. A wolf who could sure as hell back up the rumors he had acquired. Haku had seen it with his own eyes, seen the large black wolf tear human flesh with his teeth as if it were the most delicious of meats. At the same time he had seen the human form do what the rumors said, snap a neck like a twig, catch a dagger with his teeth then use it even when both arms were broken.

Haku simply loved the fact that such a dangerous creature was sitting down and sharing drinks with him. To think that he could keep such a magnificent animal calm to the point of having a civilized conversation with him...

... the pet shop owner had tried several times to get Zabuza to come to the shop and stay there and be his, but Zabuza was that one animal that could not be locked down. As wonderful as it sounded to become one of Haku's animals to be brought to a good home that was not the kind of life for someone like Zabuza.

"Humans." Haku said with a bright smile, answering Zabuza's earlier question.

Zabuza rolled his eyes. "Oh no. This conversation again." Humans are nice, humans are great. But Haku was too cute to snap at like he'd do to anyone else who kept bringing the same thing up.

Zabuza was the only person alive who thought Haku was cute. Anyone else might've called him a seductive little sneak, but not Zabuza.

"They are! I mean, have you ever seen such an interesting species?"

"This is why you sleep with an animal and not a human?" Haku made a face at Zabuza while the large wolf laughed, taking another gulp of his beer.

"Well... I can't help the fascination with that one. Besides, you won't sleep with me anymore."

"Not that I won't." Zabuza leaned forward and nuzzled his face against Haku's neck, smirking a bit from the startled sound Haku made. Zabuza's face felt like he should've had a beard but he didn't, yet the feeling didn't irritate your skin. Instead it was soft like a wolf's fur, something so soft that you wanted nothing more than to have this man nuzzle you and growl hungrily against your flesh as if he wanted to eat it. "But... that one you've chosen is quite..."

"Unstable?" Haku giggled and ran his hands down Zabuza's arms. Haku always did enjoy petting this one. Even in human form Zabuza's skin felt like something you just had to snuggle against. "He's quite calm these days you know."

"Uh huh. Not when it comes to you and you know it."

"Well... that's how it's supposed to be."

"You know Haku I've always wondered something." Zabuza pulled back to take another swig of his drink while Haku raised his own glass, taking a delicate sip of his own alcohol. Zabuza rolled his eyes at the action, wondering how you could just take a sip of something like alcohol. The stuff was so good that he couldn't help but polish off a bottle as quickly as possible so he could grab another. Zabuza was blessed with an extremely high tolerance of the stuff. "You obviously care for this Gaara, right?"

"What makes you say that?"

"Well for one we're not doing anything right now and we could be. I remember the days when I would come to visit and we'd end up in your bed in less than ten minutes."

"I already told you. You won't sleep with me."

"Fine. What if I say that I will." Haku's eyes widened a bit then he frowned. Leave it to Zabuza to figure him out. "Since when did someone have to give you permission? You know how to get a person to make no mean yes. I've heard plenty of rumors and believe me, I know that they're all true."

"What are you trying to say, Zabuza?"

Zabuza grinned just like the wolf he was. "You're starting to settle down because of him. You're only fucking him, aren't you?"

"Please don't use that word when you're speaking of him." Bingo. Zabuza just hit the nail on the head.

"My apologies. Just making a point."

"Wha-?" Haku blinked for a moment then his eyes widened. "You...! I hate you sometimes!" Zabuza simply replied with a roar of laughter. Haku sighed and leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms at his chest and pouting at his friend. Only Zabuza could really get the best of him. "Is that what you were wondering? If I cared for him? Or... more?"

"No. Not at all. I already know the answer to that."

"Yeah yeah. So, what did you want to know?"

"If you care for him so much, why did you let him go?" The beer bottle was empty now and Zabuza settled for holding the bottle by its neck with two of his fingers, waiting for Haku to answer. Getting more beer to drink could wait. This was a question that had been on Zabuza's mind for quite some time. Why give up something so easily if you obviously wanted it?

"Zabuza. None of the animals here are mine to keep."

"That's a bullshit excuse and you know it. I know you, Haku. If you want something that badly you keep it."

"Ah. But that's what's so fascinating about us humans." Haku took another drink, this one actually much longer than the other tiny sips he had been taking. "They do things like that."

"Do things like what?"

Haku took another drink, another large one that almost killed the entire glass. He was imitating Zabuza's drinking habits now, silently showing that the topic at hand was much touchier then he wanted to let on. "They do things like letting the things they care about go."

"Haku..." But Zabuza never got to finish his thought. At that moment the front door to the shop opened and Gaara walked in, hands shoved in his pockets with his normal bland expression on his face. Still clad in his work clothes that could easily pass for clothes you'd wear to a club, Gaara moved with a kind of grace only a feline would have to join Haku and Zabuza.

"Right on time, as usual." Haku stood up and nodded over to Zabuza. "We were just finishing up our conversation." Zabuza frowned over at Haku who simply smiled sweetly at the wolf.

"Yes." Zabuza suddenly grinned. "Walk me to the door, Haku?"

Damn him. Damn him to hell.

**_

* * *

_**

And now, on to chapter 4! Enjoy.

* * *

_**Pet**_

By: _Chibi_

If possible, the wife was more disgusting than the husband. The husband who always wore suits covered in a film of cigar smoke had a wife who always wore dresses that showed skin that should've been hidden instead of revealed.

When the husband went off to work in some big named office building the wife played the typical part of freeloader, only good for shopping and being attached to the husband's arm when outside the house to be his eyecandy. Somewhere in the mix was love, maybe, something along the lines of her being there for him when he was working at the local burger joint and studying business in whatever college he had gone to.

Of course he was sleeping with secretary A, B, D but not C because C didn't have big enough breast to his liking, and pursuing E by backing her into empty offices and slipping his hand underneath her dress with a wicked grin and dirty fingers that liked to play. He'd watch her scream out things like _no stop _but she'd end up giggling, spreading her legs, and slipping down her panties with ease.

It didn't bother the freeloader wife at home who maxed out his credit cards while he was playing secretary tag. The freeloader wife who started sleeping with pool boys and limo drivers for kicks. She was on the way to sleeping with the husband's office buddies and even his boss when it was decided that something needed to be done or else the already broken marriage would be just that... broken.

Enter Itachi and his pets.

The husband had heard the name Itachi from a friend of a colleague of a friend. And he had heard of the rare pets that a human eye had never, ever seen. Curious, the husband went to meet this Itachi and these pets, and had found one to his liking.

A bird. A bird with long blond hair trapped in a ponytail, bright blue eyes, and yellow feathers tattooed down her arms and spine that moved all across her body. How the husband longed to touch that skin, move his fingers over those feathers and have a body like that pressed against his own. But he remembered that this wasn't something for him, but for _them_. For the both of them to share as husband and wife. Animals were always said to bring people closer together, however, his wife wasn't the type to just want an ordinary puppy or house cat.

So the husband bought the bird and brought her home.

The husband also, of course, ended up touching and coming very close to fucking the beautiful loverbird as soon as they got in the car to go home. He learned that those nails of hers were sharp and she had a mean kick that seemed to always hit the mark, right between his legs. But soon she stopped fighting, all it took was a few words of _you're mine, you have to listen to me_. But it had taken so long to get her to calm down that the husband only had time to touch and be thankful that his pants were large enough to hide the erection that touching had caused.

The wife had been quite pleased when she set her eyes on the creature, going on and on about how beautiful she was and how nice it would be to have company in the house. Their broken marriage was slightly taped back together, with invisible tape mind you, so the cracks were still able to be seen.

When the husband went off to work as he normally did the pet had thought that she could perhaps get a break from dealing with him and his hands. But to her horror the wife took after the husband, and her hands were busy if not busier. And the last thing the pretty bird girl wanted was another woman touching her. Her touch was filthy, contaminated with all those other human men she had touched, secretly caked in the make up of secretary C who her husband had foolishly ignored. The only woman, only creature, only anything that was supposed to touch the loverbird was her mate, her matching pink partner who had been stolen from her by that other disgusting human.

Sakura.

And across town on the same night a second loverbird lay, curled up on her side in a large bed decorated in navy blue sheets and black covered pillows. Her hair was short and pink, almost looking like it had been chopped off. Always kept naked except for when she was brought out the house to be, like that husband's wife, an arm attachment. Along the entire right side of her body she was tattooed in pink feathers. In a few places, like along her breast and the small of her back, the tattoos were actually real feathers, giving her a more inhuman yet beautiful appearance. She lied there and listened to the shower water behind the bathroom door, her human master silent as he washed himself before bed.

When she had first gotten there she was actually surprised when the man did nothing. He simply lied in bed next to her, occasionally held her and played with the feathers on her body. Then he'd dress her up in pretty human gowns at night and bring her to dinner parties where she'd watch him smile and laugh, having conversation with other humans. She had noticed how young he was compared to the other human men, and how his smiles seemed to be more genuine then theirs. She had wanted to ask him about it but never really got the chance to, because she had met the answer face to face on this particular evening.

Father. Her master had a father.

Not just a father, but a boss. The older man ran the company his son worked for, a company that she could tell he didn't want to work for. He seemed much too happy and too carefree to be confined into a business suit, and when he smoked those cigars he usually choked, and when he drank he only took a sip instead of a glass or three. And she had heard the father ask _what about that pet of yours? _And she had heard the father ask _is she warming the bed like a woman should? _The pink loverbird had heard her master respond with lies, with _yes father, of course father, _as he unwillingly shared business talk and scotch with him.

And she had heard the father ask what she was hoping he wouldn't ask. _Can I see her_, with her master agreeing to his father's wishes.

The shower water stopped and she listened as her master stepped out. She didn't have to turn to look at him to know that there was a towel wrapped around his waist, another in his hand as he dried his hair that always stayed a dirty blond color no matter how many times he washed it. She would normally turn to look at him, and at times they would talk for a bit. Small conversation that sometimes made her laugh, especially after nights like this when the both of them had to go to one of those rich company people dinner parties. He had a tendency to make fun of every person at the parties, making faces and changing his voice to sound like some old guy who had too much money to count.

But tonight she didn't turn to look at him.

He also didn't say anything to her. Instead he climbed into the bed once he slipped on a pair of plain white boxes, silently watching her lie there with her back turned to him. He wanted to say something but no words came out, because what exactly could he say? _Can I see her? _His father had asked him, and he had agreed to it.

Of course in the back of his mind he knew what it meant when his father had said it, and then when his father had took her hand and, "showed her around," "took her someplace quieter so they could talk more." But he had simply watched them walk away, silently hoping that maybe he was wrong, maybe someplace quieter meant a place to simply talk since there had been too many conversations going on at the party.

Her complete silence slapped him in the face for thinking something so foolish.

Whether she blamed him or not was debatable and at the moment asking that question was the wrong thing to do. Saying anything was the wrong thing to do, "I'm sorry," felt too superficial when he practically knew what would happen, even if he was sorry for it. "Are you o.k.," sounded stupid, absolutely ridiculous because of course she wasn't o.k. She had told him once that she was part of a matching set, that somewhere out there she had a mate waiting for her. One of the small conversations they shared with each other, one of the reasons why he refused to touch her, especially since she didn't want to be touched by anyone or anything else.

Ino.

_"Loverbirds can't live without each other so can never be separated."_

Sakura...

... Ino.

s_o please be careful..."_

_

* * *

_

_Truth_

"So you kissed him?"

"Shhh! He'll tell."

Gaara rolled his eyes as he placed two matching cards down on the ground before looking at the last one in his hand. "Kisame won't tell." He muttered, not even paying attention to the large shark glaring underneath him from the fish tank of a floor. "If he does then my claws will have to dance across his skin." Gaara made sure to scratch his nails over the floor, causing the large, threatening shark to swim away into a corner. Not just in animal form, but in human form Kisame was much larger, but Gaara had a thing about being able to beat up creatures much larger than himself. And since Kisame wasn't one of Itachi's precious auctionable, desirable, show off for the sheer beauty of it pets it didn't matter if the shark man had a scratch or two... or two hundred on his body. "Now, you kissed him?"

"Yeah." Naruto looked over his five cards, frowning over at Gaara and the fact that he only had one card left. He hated playing cards with Gaara because he always won, but there was nothing else to do while Itachi was off at one of his meetings. "Got any sixes?"

"Go fish." Gaara couldn't help but smirk at the cute, frustrated pout on Naruto's face as he drew his card. The pout grew more annoyed when the fox boy realized that he **still **had no matching cards to place down on the ground. "When did you kiss him?" Gaara asked.

"Um... last week."

"And you're just now telling me? It's been a week." Unknown to anyone, maybe except for Haku, Gaara had a thing for wanting to listen to gossip. Not that he'd admit it, and not that he'd ever pass around any interesting news, but he did secretly enjoy listening to what was going on around him.

"Yeah, I know. I just... I've been trying to forget, I guess."

"Why?" Gaara paused for a moment. "Got any tens?"

"Ha! Go fish!" Naruto beamed, clinging onto any type of chance that he could stay in the game. "Oh, and because... Sasuke isn't my master, Itachi is."

"There is that." Gaara drew a card. "And a pet is supposed to be obedient to his master. However.." Gaara placed the card down along with his final card, a tiny smirk on his face. "... you really like our master's little brother, don't you?"

"Awww... you won again!" Naruto threw his cards down and crossed his arms at his chest. "You always win... we need a new game."

"Naruto?"

"Yes?"

"You didn't answer my question." Gaara began to pick the cards up, putting them back in the box. "You really like Sasuke, don't you?"

"Well..." _Why should I stop? _Sasuke had asked him that night. _Look at me, Naruto._ "... I... I think..." _I... I can't._ Naruto remembered how he had responded to that, how he responded to that voice, those lips, that everything that was Sasuke.

That everything that was his master's little brother. _Because if I do I'd fall in love with you! _It had been a week since then and already Naruto knew that it was too late. He'd fall in love with him? He had a feeling that he already did fall in love with him. So soon? That was the problem with being a pet, you tended to fall as quick as it was easy with the right amounts of affection from a person. How long did it take a dog or a cat to _love _their master? As long as they were fed and petted that was it, love, just like that.

And Sasuke had done just that. Fed him with those damn smiles he never seemed to share with anyone else, fed him with those open arms for Naruto to run into, petted him so much that at times when Naruto closed his eyes he could feel that hand running against his fur, his skin.

His **master's **little brother! How could he? "I shouldn't have..." Naruto lowered his head, ashamed. How could he do that? "... Itachi is..."

"Itachi is your master, just like he's mine. But..."

"... but?"

"Haku... Haku is the one that I..." Gaara's eyes widened, as if coming out of a trance and realizing what he was about to admit to. Naruto just smiled, his tails wagging behind him from seeing the not so invisible blush make its way across Gaara's cheeks.

"You don't have to say it. I understand what you're getting at. Still... I thought I had more control then that."

"Oh?" After a moment Naruto moved closer to Gaara and closed his eyes, laying down next to him and resting his head in the panther's lap. How odd it would look had they been in animal form, a fox lying his head in a panther's lap. "You mean around Sasuke?"

"Yeah." Naruto couldn't help but smile when he felt Gaara's finger scratch behind his ear. "I mean he was nice, but still... he's not Itachi."

"No, he's not." Gaara let his nails trail down, over Naruto's back, the fox boy arching his back as a weird little mewing sound that was close to a purr left his lips. Times like this made Gaara realize how easy it was to fall for Naruto, he had that gift of being adorably sexy. "But when someone is nice to us..." As obedient as a pet could be, it could also be the most fickle creature in the world. "... and Sasuke is exactly that towards his brother's animals, especially you." How many times had Gaara himself rubbed against Sasuke's leg with his body when he came up to visit? How many times had Gaara himself jumped at him and tackled him to the ground, attacking his face with his tongue? Still loyal to Itachi, always would be, but Gaara was no fool and would take whatever he could get.

Because when was the last time he was able to tackle Itachi to the ground like that?

When was the last time Itachi paid him, paid any of them any type of attention that didn't involve an auction or pleasure for himself? Even when he petted Naruto it usually came after sex, or when sex was coming around the corner.

It was a silent question they had, all of the animals, all of the pets that belonged to Itachi. Why was their master that way?

"He's seen me, Gaara. I let him see me."

"I figured that when you said you kissed him." One of Gaara's nails played over Naruto's lower back, right above his tails. Naruto practically lost his mind and melted, curling up as much as he could against Gaara. "He's probably questioning all the animals his brother has, wondering if they are like you."

"He thought it was a dream." Naruto muttered. His voice couldn't really get any higher with Gaara pampering him the way he was. Gaara had a not so secret soft spot for Naruto. "But I don't think he's thinking that anymore."

"I wouldn't think it either."

"Hm? Why?" Gaara didn't say anything for a long moment. "Gaara?"

"Sit up." Naruto looked confused for a moment but did as Gaara asked, sitting in front of him. Gaara watched Naruto for a moment before he reached over, gently grabbing onto his chin and pulling him closer, close enough to look into those eyes Naruto had. He had those romance novel eyes, the ones people could just drown into and not even notice that they were running out of air from falling underneath the deep blue waters. "This is why."

"Wha-? What do you mean?"

"I would want to think that someone like you were real." Gaara brushed a finger against Naruto's lips. "I would want to think that someone like you were more than a dream. It wouldn't be fair if I only got to see you when I slept."

"Gaara..." For some reason Naruto's heart began beating faster. For some reason he felt the room get warm, a bit too warm. For some reason he wasn't breathing in the same rhythm he was before. Maybe it was because he finally noticed that as Gaara spoke to him, their lips would end up drawing closer and closer to each other. Maybe it was because his mind finally reminded him that _hello_, this was **_Gaara_** sitting in front of him, leaning towards him and breathing lightly against his lips.

Gaara. One of those pets whispered about in the shop, Naruto remembered. That name was known as being as fierce as it was beautiful. As untouchable as it was desirable. Naruto would hear that name during his time at the shop, wonder why exactly it left legs quivering from nighttime images involving moonlight and later blissful good mornings spent in bed with no memories of clothing. Naruto would hear that name during his time at the shop, wonder why exactly the store owner himself couldn't stop himself from being around Gaara, finding some excuse to touch him, finding some excuse to brush against him and whisper in his ear. When Gaara left the shop all the animals whispered, whispered about the contract Haku made and altered, and Naruto wondered just what was it that made people react like this to Gaara.

In the shop Naruto was the one who didn't just whisper about Gaara like everyone else. He actually spoke to him, actually got to know him and dared to call him a friend. Was that why he couldn't see it? Because they were friends? Being sold to Itachi didn't help, it only made them get closer and made them both dare to call each other friends. Hearing stories about a friend was just... weird, especially stories about good looks and possible moments suited for good sex happening in a large city. Your mind would think _my friend? Like that? Really? Since when? _

Since... now.

The kiss was inevitable when the two of them really took the time to think about it. Naruto hearing things about Gaara, Gaara hearing things about Naruto. But what made Naruto so appealing, what always made him appealing ever since they first met, was that Naruto never had any clue what he did to people or what he could do to people. Anything anyone ever whispered about Naruto, some comment about his looks, that smile, that damn forever addicting smile... he never caught onto it. Gaara knew what he was capable of, oh yes he most certainly knew, but Naruto was still insanely cute, somehow innocent. Only he could be innocent while seducing his friend, perhaps even closer to a best friend, with his lips the way he was.

It wasn't fair, really, to have the friend named Naruto. Then again, it wasn't fair, really, to have the friend named Gaara. Which one was the dangerously beautiful one?

Usually, when one kissed a friend, especially a kiss that had Naruto's toes curled and Gaara trying to pull the fox boy impossibly close, those negative thoughts came into play. _What happens now? Will things be the same? Will this end the friendship? _For some reason, maybe it was because they weren't human, but for some reason neither of them even had a single thought like that. End friendship? Not likely, this was just pure curiosity and maybe a bit of secret dreams had in the middle of a hot shower.

The kiss ended with Gaara quietly licking at Naruto's lips. Tasting them, for a last time perhaps? Maybe a first? No questions came up about an _again_, a _why_, they just stayed silent in each other's company. Naruto with his eyes closed, his lips parted and his tails wrapped loosely around his body as Gaara let his tongue play over his lips some more, trailing over the whisker marks, down to the neck to entice a soft moan to leave Naruto's throat. Why now? Why this moment? Why not earlier, why not later? It didn't matter, really. What was the point in asking?

Naruto's ears suddenly twitched and Gaara growled a bit, the two pulling away from each other. Without saying a word Gaara opened the box of cards and shuffled them, dealing each of them the cards needed to play another round of Go Fish. For some reason Gaara liked playing that game, probably because it irritated the hell out of Kisame, especially since Gaara loved to emphasis the words _go fish _and slam the cards down against the floor where Kisame swam underneath them.

"I'll beat you this time." Naruto said, just in time for the office door to open. Itachi stepped in, not even surprised to see Gaara and Naruto playing that silly game. Instead he slipped off his jacket and walked over to his desk, sitting down after he hung his jacket over his chair. He kept his black leather gloves on, his hands still a bit cold from the walk outside after his lunch meeting at the new cafe a few blocks away.

"How many times has he lost?" Itachi asked, setting a few folders down from his meeting.

"About seven, maybe eight, I lost... count..." Gaara's voice trailed off when he got a good look at the folders sitting on the desk. It had been a week, but...

... the auction folders all looked the same.

Names of old and new faces of the people attending, possible animals they could like, who had the most money so Itachi knew who to be most generous with when it came to his animals. Naruto looked up and actually shuddered, quickly looking away from the desk and the folders on it. Last time... last time Ino and Sakura had been separated. And last time... last time he had to deal with that horrible snake and the possible consequences of upsetting the disgusting creature.

It had been a whole week... maybe some silly thoughts of a break had crossed Naruto's mind.

Gaara frowned and set his cards up before standing, walking up to Itachi's desk. Naruto's head shot up and everything seemed to move in slow motion as he watched Gaara stand in front of the desk, nearly glaring at Itachi. Glaring... at his master. And still in the same type of slow motion, everything being played frame by frame, Gaara said what every one of Itachi's pets wanted to say but never did.

"No more."

"Excuse me?" Itachi looked up at Gaara and rose an eyebrow at him. "No more what?"

"No more. No more of these auctions." Gaara was... going against Itachi? His master? "It's been going on for too long. There's no reason for it." Naruto wondered why Gaara was doing this. Out of all people he would've thought he himself would've protested since he had to deal with it all the time. Gaara, at least, got to go home.

Go home... to Haku. Go home and... Naruto's eyes widened a bit. Go home and lie, lie to that person he...

_"Itachi is your master, just like he's mine. But..."_

_"... but?"_

_"Haku... Haku is the one that I..." _Go home and lie to that person... he loved. Lie and pretend that nothing was happening with the animals. Go home and pretend that they weren't scared, that Naruto wasn't scared, that their very own master wasn't breaking their contracts.

Ino and Sakura...

Then he got to come back to Itachi the next day and see the results of his lie to Haku, because if Haku ever found out it would certainly end. Just one word to Haku and the auction would be over, but Gaara always stayed quiet.

Because... he was a pet.

"Gaara... are you... speaking against me?" Naruto winced at the tone of Itachi's voice. Questioning while answering the question for Gaara. You better say that you're not, there is no other option. And Naruto watched Gaara and could tell that he so badly wanted to say yes, yes damnit I'm speaking against you!

Because... he was a pet.

He was a pet... which meant that he couldn't say yes. Naruto could see the defeated look on his friend's face. For a second, just for a second, Naruto thought of standing with Gaara but he remembered, Naruto remembered those consequences for going against Itachi. So he sat, just sat, and closed his eyes when Gaara shook his head. "No... I'm not speaking against you."

"Good." Gaara turned to sit back down with Naruto but stopped when he heard Itachi's chair being pushed back. "Just a minute, Gaara."

Again, everything happened in slow motion. Naruto sat and watched Itachi walk up to Gaara and wrap his arms around his waist, pulling him tightly against him. Naruto sat, frozen, shocked, not believing what he was seeing. Gaara, trying to pull away from Itachi while at the same time leaning back against him, feeling those leather gloved hands move slowly up, then back down his body. Over his chest, down over his hips and thighs, as Itachi made some kind of sensually evil growling noise into Gaara's ear.

"Don't..." Gaara's eyes flew to the clock in the room, knowing, knowing that soon... soon "...Haku..."

"Shhhhh. We have time."

"No... h-he'll be here... he'll find out..."

"What?" Naruto shook his head in disbelief, not believing what he was seeing. Didn't Itachi remember... Gaara's contract? "Itachi-sama, you can't..." But Itachi glared at Naruto, telling him to keep quiet, one of his leather gloved hands moving back and passing over Gaara's ass, a tiny grin on the man's face.

How long had this been going on? How long had Itachi been breaking Gaara's contract? How could Naruto not know? Those times Itachi left the room and didn't return for a while. Naruto would go to the door and hope to talk to Gaara... but he wouldn't be there. Those were times way before Haku showed up, or way after Haku showed up. But not when there was...

... Naruto's eyes flew over to the door, his ears twitching.

"Itachi-sama..."

"Hush, Naruto."

"But..." Haku... was already outside the door... Naruto could hear him.

He heard him... he heard him as he stood there, practically burning holes into the door with his eyes. He heard him... oh no...

... how long... had Haku been standing there? How much... had he heard?

* * *

Haku stood by the door, an unreadable expression on his face. 

So... that was the reason why Itachi bought all those animals.

Not only that, but he had the nerve to touch what was his.

Itachi was lucky enough to convince Haku to sell him Naruto. That was something the pet shop owner had been hesitant to do. Naruto was still young and there was a great chance that he couldn't handle a man like Itachi. That was what his training had really been for.

"I... tachi..." But for Itachi to even **think **about touching his most precious animal, his most precious...

"Relax... Gaara."

"N-no... I'm not... supposed to..."

"Supposed to what? You belong to me, Gaara, and you do as I say." ... for Itachi to even think, to even fucking **think **about touching Gaara...

Haku's unreadable expression changed, changed into something so cold and so deadly that if he wanted to he could open the door and shatter Itachi completely if he wanted to by simply raising an eyebrow at him. But this was Haku and he played the game in a much more... deliciously sadistic way. Itachi was nothing but an eager child who had made the mistake of playing with the wrong man.

After that, Haku smirked at the door and listened to Itachi and Gaara. Listened so closely that he was able to see every part of Gaara that was being touched. He knew Gaara's sounds that well while Itachi was simply learning them for the first time.

At least, he better had been learning them for the first time.

No, Haku knew it was the first time, because Gaara was his and he knew immediately when his Gaara had been touched.

And just in case if he was wrong...

... this was Itachi's first time playing with fire. What he didn't know was that Haku controlled the flames he was playing with. And if it wasn't his first time...

* * *

Naruto's ears twitched again from inside the office. 

And he winced... from what he heard Haku say.

_

* * *

__End Truth_

_Next Chapter: Runaway_

_Preview:_

The last thing Sasuke ever expected to see was... "Naruto?"

He sat by his car in the parking lot to his brother's company. "Sasuke." Naruto looked up at him, his eyes pleading, begging. "Don't make me stay here."

"What?"

"Take me home with you. Don't make me stay here late with him."

"With... who?"

"Itachi."

"My brother?" Sasuke looked confused. "Why?"

And Naruto whispered the word that he had grown to hate ever since he was introduced to Uchiha Itachi. "Auction."


	5. Runaway

Notes: It's been a long while, sorry about that. It wasn't just real life this time, my muses were seriously not helping me out at all. Should note that this chapter is pretty gruesome, so please read carefully. Also, there's more yuri in this one, and a bit more SasuNaru. There is a side chapter I'm posting elsewhere (check out the links in my profile on where to find it) that features Itachi, Gaara, and Naruto.

Hope you all enjoy this next part!

* * *

_Sasuke ran down the hallway as fast as he could, the pounding of his heart bouncing off the walls around him. He had just come in from his lunch break, a pair of headphones covering his ears but the song he had been listening to had been interrupted. No matter how loud he had the sound he still heard it, everyone in the entire building had to had heard it. _

_The sound of his brother's screams._

_In all his years of knowing Itachi, Sasuke had never, **ever**, heard him scream for any reason. Even now Sasuke held onto the childish belief of his brother not being scared of anything. _

_As Sasuke got closer to Itachi's door he felt that childish belief dissolve from a sudden wave that hit him. _

_A strong odor. Blood._

_Sasuke stumbled away from the door and covered his mouth with his hand, trying desperately to keep the contents of his lunch inside of his stomach. Blood was no foreign smell to anyone. Small cuts, scrapping of knees, falling off bikes, it was easy to know the smell of blood when it hit you. But this, this blood was so thick that Sasuke could taste it, as if drinking it from a wine glass and licking his lips afterwards. _

_"Onii... san...?" He didn't expect a response. His heart had already showed him the worse images of Itachi being dead in his office. The taste in Sasuke's mouth was the taste of his own blood, Uchiha blood. Tears stung Sasuke's eyes and he wanted nothing more than to pass out and not think about this anymore._

_But... there was something else._

_As Sasuke stood there he heard a soft sound. Delicate. Sinister. A laugh, someone was laughing. Someone was laughing! Sasuke's eyes narrowed and he rushed through the door, ignoring the smell, the mix of vomit and blood that was caught in his throat. _

_Then Sasuke froze, completely froze, at what he saw._

_What he was hoping to see was something along the lines of his brother lying in a pool of blood with a bullet pierced through his chest, eyes wide in shock from being shot, body unmoving from having his life ripped from him in a matter of seconds. That he could deal with. He could deal with some greedy asshole lounging in his brother's chair, holding a gun, smoking a cigar, happy in his victory of killing Uchiha and taking over his company._

_That, on the other hand, was not what Sasuke saw._

_What he did see was his brother not lying on the ground, or on the desk, or even slumped against the wall. Sasuke could even deal with Itachi being slumped against the wall with a bullet piercing his skull. But no, Itachi was all over the office, the walls decorated in his blood. His body was lying on the ground but there was some kind of animal--a wolf, a rather large wolf, on top of him, gnawing at what looked like bloody strings of Itachi that were meant to stay inside of his body and not out. There were more animals, growling hungrily, a pack of creatures that were only possible in storybooks, white tiger looking creatures with blood colored strips and wings, actual wings, laying against their skin. They were sitting in the corner, growling over who got to eat Itachi's leg, Itachi's hand. The hand is too small, the leg has more meat on it. But the fingers are quite the delicacy, the fingers of the man who dared betray our true master. _

_Sasuke dropped to his knees and shivered, hot tears falling down his face as he finally lost it, threw up from the smell and the sight, coughed and gagged until his stomach hurt from it. _

_The wolf finally pulled away from Itachi and glanced over at the desk._

_"I want his head." Sasuke looked up when he heard that voice. It couldn't be... _

_... but it was. There, sitting at the desk, was Haku. The pet shop owner! Was he the one... but... how? Why? And who was that sitting in his lap? A young man was curled up against him dressed in fishnet, eyes too bright to be a human colored green, skin the color of sand... sand? Was that even possible? But there he was, curled up against Haku as the pet shop owner ran his fingers through messy strands of red, petting the young man's hair._

_"St-stop this..." Sasuke tried to get his voice to stop shaking but he couldn't. What had this man done to his brother! Sasuke was angry, more than angry, but there was a sense of fear that was choking him. Not from the animals in the office who were eating away at his brother, but from Haku. There was something in those eyes, something cold, something that told Sasuke that if he angered this man he would be next with no questions asked._

_"Stop?" Haku chuckled. "He brought this on himself, Sasuke. He broke my contract, my most important contract." There was a sickening crack and Sasuke looked just in time to see the large wolf bite into Itachi's neck, hard, his teeth grinding through flesh and bone and slowly, painfully, tearing the head off._

_"No! Haven't you done enough!" Sasuke screamed. _

_"Sasuke." Sasuke whirled around to see Naruto standing behind him, looking as beautiful as he had been that night when they shared that kiss. Naruto's eyes were sad, full of tears for the pain Sasuke felt, full of tears for how foolish Itachi had been. "Sasuke, I'm sorry."_

_"Sorry? Sorry! H-he killed my brother, he killed him and he doesn't even care!"_

_"Itachi-sama... he broke the contract..." It's all Naruto could say. Itachi broke the contract, broke the most sacred contract of all. Haku would've probably let the auctions slide, maybe would've done something smaller. Ruin the Uchiha name? Maybe give Itachi the death Sasuke would've been ready for, a simple bullet to the brain, to the heart? But this..._

_... this was for Gaara._

_"Contract? Contract! This is all over some stupid fucking contract!" Sasuke's voice was bordering on hysterical. _

_"He knew the rules." Haku held no sympathy at all and he just sat there, continuing to pet Gaara. Sasuke turned to look at Haku, his eyes narrowing dangerously but before he could do anything Naruto was hugging him from behind, burying his head against his back._

_"Don't. Don't, Sasuke." Naruto whispered. "There's nothing you can do."_

_"Nothing? You expect me to do nothing when this, this **monster **killed my brother!"_

_"Your brother killed himself." Haku said. "He set loose the most dangerous animal of them all."_

_"And just who exactly is that?" _

Haku opened his eyes and shot up in his bed, a light sheen of sweat covering his body. Rubbing his eyes a bit to try and wake up more Haku yawned, laying back in the bed with a small smirk on his face.

And who was the most dangerous animal? Haku smirked more, chuckling a bit. "I am." Then he frowned, remembering the dream he just had. "But... I can do much better than that."

Then he closed his eyes and waited for Gaara to return like he did every night.

_**Pet**_

_Runaway_

By: _Chibi_

"Oh my, she's beautiful!"

Sakura stood beside her master, wearing a backless, spaghetti strapped dress made up of black silk, the pink feathers on the small of her back decorating the back of the dress and giving it a more exotic appearance. Sakura took a step back when one of the women reached a hand out to try and touch the pink feathered tattoos that were visible, the heels to her shoes clicking against the floor.

"She's a shy one, isn't she?" The woman chuckled around the drink she was sipping on. Sakura watched her master give the woman a weak smile, silently searching for a way out of the conversation. The two of them were stuck at yet another business party, this one outside near the large swimming pool of someone's house, Sakura couldn't remember the name of the guy and didn't really care. Tables were set all around the pool and the party was in full swing with plenty of drinks and hors d'oeuvres that Sakura swore looked like simple slices of cheese with toothpicks.

The women took her leave when she found someone who was obviously more important and Sakura saw her master sigh in relief. She couldn't help but smile just a little bit. Despite what had happened with her master's father before her master was one of those people who did little things that made you think about forgiving and possibly forgetting.

"We won't stay long." Her master told her once the women was out of sight. He tugged at the black tuxedo was wearing, clearly suffocating in the thing. Sakura nodded and snatched up one of the hors d'oeuvres off of a waiter's tray when he walked past. She made a face when she stuck it in her mouth.

"It is just cheese." She muttered.

"Of course it is." Her master smirked. "This is one of Robertson's parties, he's cheap. I bet the wine is grape juice."

Sakura couldn't help but chuckle softly at that. "That wine stuff you humans drink is bitter to me anyway. And I don't think you like it very much either, right?" Sakura waited for her master to respond but instead she was met with silence. "Right?" Still no response. "Why aren't you saying anythi-"

"Come on, I say we get out of here now." He took Sakura's hand and began to walk away.

"Now?" Sakura looked surprised. "Wait, what's the... rush..." Her voice trailed off when she heard someone speaking behind them. She froze. She recognized that voice, that voice that was chatting and laughing with a group of business men and women.

Her master's father.

"Come on, Sakura." Her master said, pulling her forward. "Let's go." Sakura nodded and quickly walked away with her master, pushing past the people who were in the way of their hasty exit.

It wasn't fast enough. "Ah, there's my son. Son! Come here!" Parents always had keen eyes in spotting their children. Sakura winced and her master cursed softly to himself, the both of them stopping. The door to the house wasn't very far, just a couple more steps. "Come here, son. I have some people who want to meet you." Sakura looked up at her master, her eyes pleading with him to just pretend he didn't hear his father so they could walk through the door, go through the house, grab their coats and just take off.

But she knew that the father was the weakness.

She really wished that she wasn't obligated to listen to this man sometimes. Just when his father was around, that's all. She could listen any other time really, just... not then.

"Good evening, father." Sakura couldn't help but notice how absolutely submissive her master's voice became when he was around his father.

"And where were you two rushing off to?" The older man glanced over at Sakura and smirked. "You weren't going to leave without at least saying hello, were you?"

"Of course not, father. I simply did not notice you."

"Well, let me introduce you to some people. They work at some of the other companies." As they made their way over to the group Sakura suddenly stopped and sniffed the air. She blinked a bit, a strangely curious look on her face as she sniffed the air a bit more. That smell... she knew that smell... "Everyone, I'd like you to meet my son and his lovely date." ... it was familiar, that smell, and it was coming from... one of the couples in the group. A man and a woman, a husband who wore a suit covered in a film of cigar smoke and a wife who wore a dress that showed skin that should've been hidden instead of revealed.

"My, she is lovely." The woman in the tight dress spoke and Sakura just continued to look at her, smelling, searching for something... what was that scent on her, on him? "Kind of like the one we have at home."

Sakura's eyes widened. That's where the smell came from! It was... "Yes, she's quite lovely indeed." The man reached over and brushed his hand against Sakura's arm, over the tattoos.

Sakura's eyes narrowed and recognition overcame her. This was the man from... _"No! INO!" _... the auction..._ "I'll find you again, I promise. I promise Ino, I'll find you again." _And his hand... his hand had Ino all over it, she could feel her all over that disgusting hand.

"I see." Her master's father spoke again. "You two also have..."

"... yes." The woman said, running her fingers through Sakura's hair. "We also have discovered Itachi's pets. They are quite beautiful." The woman's fingers ran over the side of Sakura's face, a small smirk on her face. "In fact, I think we have one just like this-OW!" The woman drew her hand back when Sakura bit her finger sharply, a hard glare on her face. "The little bitch bit me!"

"Are you o.k.?" Her husband was right at her side, looking over her fingers. He frowned. How sharp was that girl's teeth to cause his wife's fingers to bleed from such a quick bite?

"Son please, control your pet."

"Yes father. Sakura, please calm..." His voice trailed off when he saw the look on Sakura's face. Rage. Absolute, bloodthirsty rage. Then his eyes widened in realization. The woman, she was saying that she had a pet just like Sakura. She had told him once... that she was part of a matching set... that somewhere out there she had a mate waiting for her.

These two had that mate. Oh... shit...

"She's a bit fiesty, that's all." The woman smirked a bit. "I like that." And the woman was foolish enough to try and touch Sakura again. Before anyone could blink Sakura was on top of the woman, biting fiercely into her wrist. The woman started screaming, blood slipping down her wrist as if she had slit it open with a razor. "Get this thing off of me!" Her husband tried first and found it incredibly hard to pull the enraged loverbird away.

"Son! Son, don't just stand there!" But for the first time he didn't listen. He couldn't move even if he wanted to, frozen from the sight of Sakura ripping into the woman's wrist. So his father moved and helped pull Sakura away with much effort. Everyone else at the party stopped what they were doing and watched, some of the women screaming when they saw the blood dripping from the wife's wrist. Both husband and father had to hold Sakura back, the pink haired creature actually growling and screaming.

"Where is Ino? Where is Ino!" Sakura kept screaming. The woman backed away from Sakura as one of the men came over to look over her wound and call some others over to treat it and wrap it so no more blood could be lost. Someone mentioned a hospital but the woman's husband shook his head. No hospital would believe it.

"I'll just take her home." The husband said. "Can you hold the wild bird?"

"Yes, I can." The father had a strong grip on Sakura as he drug her over to the house, Sakura fighting wildly in his arms.

"Where is Ino! WHERE IS SHE! YOU BITCH! I will find you and kill you, I'll KILL YOU! YOU TOUCHED HER, YOU BOTH DID! I'LL KILL YOU BOTH!" The woman shrunk away and hid herself against her husband, not wanting to see Sakura, the look of absolute hatred in her eyes, the blood on her lips from when she bit her...

... for some reason the wife's life flashed before her eyes.

* * *

"Honey, please, calm down."

"Calm down. CALM DOWN! Look at my wrist!" She held up her now bandaged wrist for her husband to see. "She could've killed me!"

"You're overreacting." Was the response as the two of them walked into their house. "She's just a pissed off pet, nothing more."

"Pissed off or not, she almost tore my hand off!"

"Again, overreacting." He walked up the spiral staircase that lead to the second floor and to their bedroom. As he walked he began to loosen his tie and slip it off. "She's a bird, honey. Birds cannot rip off people's hands." As he stepped into the bedroom he noticed Ino sitting in the window, an unreadable expression on her face. "Ah, good evening Ino."

"Don't ignore me!" His wife screamed. "That 'little bird' almost killed me! You saw it!"

Ino turned to watch the both of them, her eyes widening.

"Please try and calm down. They will take care of her." He slipped his jacket off and tossed it onto the bed. "Ino, why don't you join..." His voice trailed off when he saw Ino... sniffing the air.

"What is she doing?" His wife asked. "Oh god, what is she doing?" Ino kept sniffing, smelling a familiar scent, a scent she hadn't smelled ever since... _"SAKURA!" _... ever since...

"Relax!" ... ever since...

"Relax? Would you be able to relax if you got your wrist bitten like that! And you saw her, you saw how she looked. We have what she wants! We do! And she said that she's going to kill us!" ... ever since... the... _"SAKURA!" _... auction...

Ino's eyes narrowed and locked onto the couple, specifically on the woman with the wounded wrist. "Sakura..." The woman looked at Ino and shivered, a soft sound of fear leaving her lips.

She knew that look. She had seen that look tonight.

"Oh gods..."

"You. You were with Sakura tonight." Ino moved, slowly, stalking over towards the woman who by now was whimpering, tears in her eyes. "You know where she is." Ino's voice was dangerously low. The tattoos on her body were moving and actually shifting to a blood red color, piercing into the woman's very soul. "Where. Is. She?"

"I... I don't know..." The wife turned to the husband. "Make her stop, please? Please! You are her master, right? Make her stop!"

"Fine, if it would get you to finally relax." He looked at Ino and gave her a firm look. "Stop this at once."

"Fuck you." Ino hissed out.

"What?" His eyes narrowed. "I said stop. Did you not hear me?"

"I heard you."

"You are supposed to listen to me!" He was looking a bit nervous now.

"Not when Sakura is involved." Ino smirked. "You should read the contract."

"Contract?" He frowned. "What contract? I simply bought you from Itachi. He mentioned no contract."

"Then you are a fool." With those words the tattoos on Ino moved quickly to her back, spreading all over it like a blood red virus. She closed her eyes and the feather tattoos exploded off of her back, forming into large wings that actually dripped in blood, each drop hitting the floor.

"Bl-blood? Her own blood?" The wife asked.

"No." Ino gave her a dark smile. "The blood of the ones who dared to separate us." Her wings moved, lifting her up into the air. Each flap brought about a dangerous wind that hit both husband and wife, the wind harsh enough to knock the wife down to the ground and send the husband flying back against the wall. The husband looked up in time to see Ino fly over and pin his wife down to the ground with an angry growl, his wife screaming in pure terror. Ino's fingers were now claws, sharp claws with a grip strong enough for the husband to hear bones cracking in his wife's arms.

"Help me!" She screamed to him, her voice choked full of pain. "Help me, please! Get her off of me!" He tried to move towards her but stopped dead in his tracks when Ino swooped down and bit into his wife's neck, hard. He watched with wide, scared eyes, a chunk of flesh being torn from his wife's neck and spit back out like a piece of unwanted meat. With hungry sounding growls Ino began to lick at the blood, the feathers of her wings dripping with even more blood from her latest kill.

The husband got up and took off running.

* * *

"Let GO of me!" Sakura struggled against her master's father. "I said let go, damnit!" Finally, finally she found Ino. Finally! After all this time she knew where to look and this old bastard was holding her back!

"It would be wise for you to calm down." He said, a frown on his face from her constant struggling. They were both standing in one of the guest room's of the house, the room that was acting as a coat room to all of the guest. Fur coats, leather jackets, trench coats, all being piled up on the bed like a self made cover.

"I will not calm down, I will not. I will not!" Sakura pulled harder but found herself being flung back by the force of the man's hand slapping her across the face, sending her down onto the mountain of coats.

"I told you to calm down." He said, a smug look on his face from finally getting Sakura to stop trying to rush to the door. He looked over her, his eyes roaming over her body with a playful smirk. Her dress had torn just a bit from her struggles, enough to show one tattoo leg up to its thigh and the father found himself wanting to touch that skin one more time. "I suppose I should teach you some manners since my son failed to do the same."

Sakura didn't move.

The father walked over to her, undoing the belt to his pants with one of those horny chuckles men had sometimes. "I shall enjoy this, little bird." As soon as he got close Sakura moved her foot, kicking the man hard between his legs, hard enough to send him crashing down to his knees with a cry of pain. "Yo-you little..." But he couldn't say anything more because Sakura was up with her hand, or rather, he claws wrapped tightly around his neck. They were too sharp and too long to be nails, and they were tearing into his neck, rivers of blood slipping down to the front of his shirt. He looked up at her then for the first time with fear and obedience in his eyes and Sakura knew this was the first time a man like this was ever willing to beg. "Pl-please... please spare me..."

Sakura watched him quietly for a moment. Her master's father. He had dared to touch her when Ino was the only person who was allowed to touch her. And he was bold enough to try and touch her again tonight after stopping her from getting to Ino.

Sakura smirked.

"No." But she didn't snap his neck like he thought she would, like he hoped she would after he found out what she was going to do. She moved her hand and clamped it over his mouth and he watched the feather tattoos on her arm moved down to her hand and off of her fingers. They all spread over his own skin like a plague, some even moving into his mouth and down his throat to the inside of his body. His eyes were wide and scared, muffled sounds of protest brushing against Sakura's hand but she ignored them and found herself enjoying his pain.

Death to the one who aided in keeping Ino away from her.

"You should really read those contracts." Sakura whispered. The father gave her a bewildered look. Contracts? And it was the last look on his face before all of the feathers stuck in place, inside and out, and slowly began to stab him and transform into real pink feathers. His eyes widened even more and he tried to pull the feathers from his skin, but the ones on the inside were growing too, growing too much, clogging up his insides and making it impossible to breathe. The tattoos reappeared on Sakura's skin as if nothing happened, and she simply watched him drop to the ground, dead.

A few minutes later the door was thrown open, a young man stepping inside with wide, tearful eyes. "Father." He whispered, not quite believing what he was seeing. His father's dead body lay on the ground in a bed of feathers, a couple of feathers leaking from the man's mouth. And sitting on top of his father was a little pink bird who watched the young man.

The young man just stared at the bird in silence for a moment before he took a deep breath and walked over to the window. The bird watched, surprised, as the window was opened for her to fly outside. He said nothing to her, what could possibly be said? So she flew out the window just in time for the typical tragedy crowd to flock around the door and look at the dead body with shocked whispers and screaming women.

"Who did this?" One man whispered in horror.

For the second time the son didn't listen. Instead he closed his eyes and whispered. "I don't know."

* * *

Naruto blinked his eyes open at the sound of the office phone ringing. Curled up with the long, black trench coat Itachi had left resting against the chair Naruto treated it as his own personal blanket. The phone kept ringing but Naruto didn't touch it, knowing that he was not supposed to. Itachi had stepped out for a moment with that folder, the folder that held the names of all the animals and all the ones who hoped to buy them in the auction. Last minute negotiations Itachi had said before he left. Naruto curled up in his trench coat blanket more. That meant that he was meeting some poor man who had heard about the auction through some other greedy bastard, and the poor man wasn't sure if this was exactly the right thing for him to do.

It was Itachi's job to meet with men like these and convince them to come along and at least take a look. Because Itachi knew that with animals like these once you looked you had to touch, and once you touched you had to keep.

The answering machine clicked on with a bored sounding _leave a message _from Itachi. Interesting, whoever was calling had Itachi's direct number and not the one through the secretary.

"Itachi my friend." Naruto's eyes widened and he curled up tighter in the coat. Orochimaru. "I'm looking forward to another one of your auctions. Just calling to confirm my seat. I need the best view to be able to gaze upon my fox." Naruto buried his head inside the coat as if that would protect him from the horrible creature's voice. "See you tonight then." The phone clicked off.

"Persistent as always." Naruto looked over to see Itachi walking into the door, a satisfied smirk on his face. The poor fool had given in. "Come out of there, Naruto. You don't have to be afraid of him."

"I don't like him." Which, by now, was common knowledge to anyone who had ever been to one of the auctions. "I don't want to be near him." Itachi walked over to Naruto, lightly petting the top of his hair and letting his fingers scratch behind one of his ears. Naruto closed his eyes, his tails wagging behind him.

"I will never give him to you, Naruto. You belong to me."

"Because you are my master, right?" There was an odd sense of security in that notion, at least in the case of being protected from snakes like Orochimaru.

"Right." Itachi leaned in to claim Naruto's lips but paused when the phone rang, again. Itachi brushed the sound off and kissed Naruto anyway. Naruto closed his eyes and returned Itachi's kiss, his mind slowly forgetting that voice that had come over the answering machine.

But even with Itachi's hot kisses Naruto could not forget the next voice he heard when the answering machine clicked on. "Uchiha!" The kiss was broken quickly and Itachi glared at the phone. "Uchiha, yo-you asshole! Pick up the phone, pick up the fucking phone!" The voice was frantic and the scared heartbeat could practically be heard through the machine. "Your animals are fucked up!"

Itachi rolled his eyes and picked up the phone, frowning. "May I help you?"

"Your animal is attacking me!" Naruto's eyes widened. He could hear the man screaming through the phone. Animal attacking?

"I believe you mean to say that the animal you purchased from me is attacking. The animal is no longer mine once you buy it." Itachi was calm even if the man was obviously fearing for his life.

"Bullshit, Uchiha!" The man screamed. "You sold me this psycho bird knowing that she would do this!" Naruto gasped softly. Bird? Ino? Sakura? _"These two are loverbirds. _Naruto swallowed nervously. _"They are to stay together at all times and to never be separated." _Oh gods...

"You didn't seem to think she was 'psycho' when you bought her. You were only interested in her for your own well being, for your own greedy desires." _"For if you break the rules... those two will stop at nothing to find each other again." _"That is the problem with humans." Itachi smirked a sadistic looking smirk. _"Loverbirds can't live without each other so can never be separated. So please be careful." _Perhaps he should've told the poor man about Haku's warnings? Now, where was the fun in that?

"But you sold her to me!"

"And you failed to ask me about her. You assumed that she was nothing more than a creature to keep you entertained."

The man screamed again and both Itachi and Naruto could hear the sound of a door being kicked open. Naruto shivered, his fox ears pressed against the top of his head in an attempt to not hear anymore. "Yo-you gotta help me, Uchiha. You gotta help me!"

"I don't have to do shit." Itachi whispered harshly.

"What! You... you won't get away with this!"

Itachi yawned. "Do all you old businessmen say that same line when something goes out of control?" Naruto's eyes widened in horror. No... this... did this happen before? He knew Itachi had auctions but... had one of the pets gone out of control like this before?

The man over the phone seemed to think the same way as Naruto. "You've done this before, haven't you? Haven't you, you little bastard!"

"It's just business." He listened to the man scream louder, heard him drop the phone and start pleading for his life. A predatory grin spread across Itachi's face as he listened to the last screams of another satisfied customer.

And Naruto just sat, curled up in the chair, his entire body shaking.

He couldn't do this anymore.

No more.

* * *

The last thing Sasuke ever expected to see was... "Naruto?"

He sat by his car in the parking lot to his brother's company. "Sasuke." Naruto looked up at him, his eyes pleading, begging. "Don't make me stay here."

"What?"

"Take me home with you. Don't make me stay here late with him."

"With... who?"

"Itachi."

"My brother?" Sasuke looked confused. "Why?"

And Naruto whispered the word that he had grown to hate ever since he was introduced to Uchiha Itachi. "Auction."

_It was a split second kind of chance. The poor fool Itachi had convinced to come to the auction had come early to present Itachi with his second thoughts about the entire situation. Itachi met him downstairs to give him more deceiving reassurances, fed him some 'it'll be just fine' and gave him a pat on the back as he walked with him to the basement. He promised him a sneak preview just to get the poor fool to stop being so nervous._

_As soon as he left the office Naruto moved. Closing the coat around his body Naruto rushed over to the door and listened, made sure the hallway was empty, listened for what felt like forever to make sure that Itachi wasn't coming back. He couldn't stay there, not after that phone call, not after hearing that man scream so much. Not after hearing Orochimaru's message. _

_He had to get away, had to run. At least for a moment. At least... for one auction, just one. He didn't want to see that poor fool fall into his master's game and take another unwilling pet home. He didn't want to hear that poor fool call Itachi later, screaming, calling his master all sorts of bastards for his deception._

_Not tonight. _

_So Naruto ran. _

_The parking lot wasn't new to him, he'd go every night with Itachi so they could go home together after the auction. He didn't know why he came to the parking lot, but parking lot meant cars, and cars meant away from this building. He had only been to and from the building by car so he'd get lost if he went away any other way. But what did he do now that he was out in the parking lot, especially since it was the first time he had been there with cars packing it. Every time him and Itachi left it was practically deserted, but now there were too many cars, too many sounds, too many colors, and it was making him even more nervous. _

_But then he saw it. _

_His master's car, but there was another car parked next to it, almost identical in looks. And he had seen that car before, in the driveway back at his master's home, the home his master shared with..._

"... Sasuke, please?" Naruto whispered. "I can explain in the car, really I can. Just... just believe me and get me out of here, at least for tonight."

"Naruto..." They were interrupted by a loud beep behind them. Sasuke turned and almost cringed. Orochimaru gave him a disgusting smile and a wave for a greeting. Orochimaru, one of the business partners that came by much too often. Out of sheer business politeness Sasuke nodded his head back in greeting.

"Ah, young Uchiha." Orochimaru said. Naruto closed his eyes and prayed that Orochimaru didn't see him. "I was just coming by to see your brother. He is inside, is he not?"

"Yes, working late as always." As always. Sasuke suddenly remembered what Naruto mentioned. _Auction_. Always working late, and Orochimaru always came by when Itachi was working late. Could he be part of this... auction?

Somehow, Sasuke wouldn't be surprised.

"Good, I was hoping to catch him. Thank you, Sasuke." His voice was purring and it made Sasuke sick to his stomach, but he managed to pull a fake smile out of his ass before Orochimaru drove off to find a parking space. As soon as he left Sasuke turned to look at Naruto, his eyes widening when he found the creature trembling in his brother's trench coat.

"Naruto!"

"He's the worst one..." Naruto whispered. "... the worst, here every night, always here..."

"For... the auction?" Sasuke frowned sadly when Naruto nodded his head. What was this auction? And what did his brother have to do with it? But as Sasuke watched Naruto he decided that none of that mattered, not at the moment.

Instead he walked over to the passenger side door of his car and unlocked it. "Get in."

"What?" Naruto looked up at Sasuke in a mix of surprise and confusion.

"I said get in, Naruto." Sasuke held the door open for Naruto. "You're coming home with me tonight."

_

* * *

__End Runaway_

_Next chapter: Rage_

"Ah. Yes. So this is the power. The power of the nine tailed fox." Orochimaru smirked for just a moment before he started chuckling, laughing, before the flames of deep, red eyes consumed him.


	6. Rage

**Author's Note: **Has it really been this long since I've touched this fic? Yikes, that's bad. Sorry sorry, so very sorry for it being so long! And sorry for the sudden jump into present tense, I write in present tense so much now that it's really hard to go back into writing in past tense. I hope to keep this fic updated more often since it's one of the few that I have completely planned out. Please enjoy this next part even if it is very, very late.

I might end up sort of revamping this fic, as in, going back and fixing the grammar, some descriptions, and I think I want to do it all over again in present tense just because that's how I write now. Maybe, we'll see. I might repost it here or on my y! gallery account or something (which I need to post a link on in my profile, I will soon).

This chapter is very not-worksafe. There's some mentions of sex and a really small sex scene towards the end (hence the M rating) but besides that just the normal yaoi, yuri, angst, blah blah blah. I thought about editing this so it could be worksafe, but there's not too much to worry about to justify doing something like that (at least to me).

I hope people still remember this fic ;;; Please enjoy.

* * *

The alarm clock, for some reason, thinks that it's a good idea to crackle on at seven in the morning. She is quick to teach it a lesson and swats the top of it with her hand. One, two, it takes three times to find the snooze button to silence the clock for 15 more minutes of sleep. The sun, however, does not wait for 15 minutes and decides to attempt to wake the woman up before the snooze wears off on the alarm. Mumbling a string of sleep filled curses _stupid fucking sunlight why doesn't someone use a shotgun to shoot the goddamn motherfucking sun out of the sky_ she pulls the covers over her head. Her eyes close, and she lets sleep guide her back into dreams sprinkled in images of the previous night. She chuckles and curls up in the bed, remembering how her and her lover couldn't make it out of the car without-**BUZZ! BUZZ! BUZZ! **

The alarm clock, for some reason, thinks that it's a good idea to crackle on at seven-fifteen in the morning.

Stupid. Fucking. Alarm clock. And when she pulls the covers away to shut it off the sun gives her one good blast in the eye. Stupid. Fucking. Sunlight! "All right, all right! I'm up!" She screams and slides out of the bed, "Are you happy now?!" She shakes her fist at the window and the sun continues to mock her by beaming its rays onto the angry fist.

"Tsunade!"

"Argh!" Goddamn early morning girlfriend who doesn't believe in sleeping in. "I'm awake, all right? You don't have to scream at me!" Damn Shizune, how can she be awake, showered, dressed, and making breakfast? Why did she have to be in love with a woman who thought waking up before the sun was normal?

"Tsunade, Tsunade!" Shizune runs into the bedroom and grabs her hand, "Come quick, you need to see this." Before Tsunade can even think about grabbing a toothbrush she's dragged out of the bedroom, down the hallway, and into the kitchen. The kitchen table is decorated with plates full of eggs, bacon, and freshly buttered toast. Tsunade's stomach begins to make happy little noises and suddenly, Shizune is God.

"A wonderful breakfast, as always." Tsunade smiles and kisses Shizune on her cheek, reaching for a piece of toast.

"That's not what I brought you in here for!" Shizune slaps Tsunade's hand away and in two seconds Shizune goes from being God to being a pain in the ass. Instead of stuffing toast in her mouth Tsunade finds herself staring at the front page of the morning paper.

MAN MURDERED DURING BUSINESS PARTY.

"That's really awful, but why do I need to see this?"

Shizune sighs and says, "Keep reading."

Tsunade rolls her eyes and continues with the story: man murdered in the middle of big business party--thanks for repeating the headline--blah blah blah, looks like he was attacked by some kind of animal...

Pink feathers.

Stabbing his skin.

Inside and out.

Third bizarre death in the same night, two more--a husband and wife--found dead in their home...

Yellow feathers.

Flesh eating.

"These are the people who bought Ino and Sakura…" Tsunade whispers. And she remembers the night the two birds were separated, the way they screamed for each other, the way they promised to find each other again. "Those girls... did they kill…"

"I-I didn't mean to."

Tsunade looks behind her, staring at Sakura who is standing there, shaking, her skin and feathers covered in dry dandruff like flakes of blood. "I didn't mean to," she whispers over and over again, "I didn't mean to."

"She came by while you were sleeping, tapping on the window and apologizing."

"I just wanted Ino... I-I just wanted my Ino back."

Tsunade tries to find the right words to say, tries to fight down the fear that tickles the back of her throat but it tastes like yesterday's scrambled eggs trying to rise from the pit of her stomach.

"I flew around for so long until I caught your scent, so I thought... c-can I rest here? Until I can go back to Haku?"

Tsunade finally manages to speak and asks, "Haku? Who is Haku?"

"My original master."

"What? But... don't you mean Itachi?"

"No," Sakura whispers, shaking her head, "Itachi bought us from Haku. He broke the contract and separated us. I-I didn't mean to kill... I-I swear I didn't mean it."

"Contract? Haku?" What did all of that mean? "Sakura... maybe you should explain."

* * *

**  
**

**Pet **

Chapter 6: _Rage_

The only way to describe the sex is with the word "mechanical," for it has become a robotic routine of thrusts that no longer carry the spark of hot sex. Morning sex has become tedious, the type of sex a couple has to try and hold onto the final strands of the relationship. The bed is the only thing making noise, creaking as their bodies move in overly rehearsed movements. The unpredictable passion is gone and when the sex--if it can even be called that--is over it leaves one curled up in the bed, the other getting up and wordlessly slipping on his clothes.

"Did I do something wrong?"

"What? No, what makes you think that?"

"Because... this isn't like us." The curled up one sits up and looks over at the one putting on his clothes and whispers, "Did I do something wrong, Haku?"

"No." Haku is too quick to answer as he tries to tie a light pink sash around his waist.

"You use to let me help you get dressed."

"Gaara, it's nothing," and Haku finally gets the sash tied around his waist but then decides that he is not in the mood for pink. He unties it and tosses it uncaringly to the ground then looks inside of his closet for another sash--maybe a belt instead of a sash?--to wrap around his body.

"… all right," Gaara says, then he slides out of the bed and picks his clothes up from the ground, "I should get dressed and go."

"Go?" Haku turns to look at Gaara and Gaara is surprised to see the look on Haku's face, like a kid standing in an empty house while mommy explains why daddy isn't coming home.

"Yeah… just back to Itachi, like I always do." Gaara pulls up his jeans and Haku suddenly doesn't like the way they curve around his lover's ass. He suddenly doesn't like the three belts looped around Gaara's waist and he especially doesn't like the form fitting fishnet that decorates Gaara's chest.

"Do you have to wear that?"

"Huh? Wear what?"

And Haku wonders when exactly he started becoming the jerk of a husband in those women's network movies, because he says, "That. Wear those clothes. You make it look like you want to get fucked." And Haku wonders when exactly he started using such harsh language, but he has, so he is, and that's the end of that. He can't help but feel a little mad at Gaara, who hasn't told him the truth about him and Itachi (not to mention the auctions) so he feels the need to put some of the blame on him. Even if Haku absolutely hates the "It's your fault for wearing that" argument it's all he has at the moment, so he's sticking with it.

"That's the point," Gaara says, "It's what you taught us to do, remember?"

And Haku feels those words slap him across his face because Gaara is only doing what he was taught to do. Pets are supposed to be appealing at all times. Pets are always supposed to be desired. Gaara's being the perfect pet, being the walking billboard of sex that he is, what made Haku think that Itachi--or anyone for that matter--would listen to that inserted "don't touch my Gaara" rule? Haku sure as hell wouldn't listen to it; Gaara is worth any form of torture or death, Haku would willingly walk to the guillotine, black bag over his head, ready to be executed in front of the crowd. So Haku understands Itachi and his desires, and he most certainly understands that Gaara is hands down the sexiest creature in the heavens, hell, and earth. And he even understands the auctions, to a certain extent, because deep down Haku is a businessman too and he knows how the rich and powerful feel the need to make a profit. Profits are the equivalent to mind-blowing orgasms in the business world.

But just because he understands doesn't mean he isn't going to break Itachi's neck with the razor sharp claws of a falcon or two and feed his insides to the shark that swims around in Itachi's office.

It's more than a little unfair, really. If he really wanted Gaara for himself he shouldn't have let him be sold, right? That is the underline message in a bottle; if he wants Gaara he needs to keep him for himself. But Haku is simply the store owner, he isn't supposed to keep any of the pets. Pets are supposed to be shared with the world… just not Gaara, who Itachi can have but not touch despite the fact that he is Gaara's rightful owner. It's a complete contradiction that makes absolutely no sense, but Haku could care less because hey, its Gaara.

Gaara laces up his boots and gives a wave to Haku, "I'll see you tonight," he says as he heads for the door. And Haku wonders when he made a switch in personality, because now he doesn't feel like the asshole husband. Instead, he feels like the overdramatic soap opera girlfriend who stands and watches her boyfriend/husband/lover/friend go off into a dangerous situation. He feels the need to run to Gaara boiling in his veins and is torn over what he should do. He doesn't want to let Gaara walk away, he doesn't want Itachi touching him, but he's a little sadistically proud of Gaara for being sensual enough to make a man break the contract and touch him. Still, the thought of Itachi having Gaara again is too much, so Haku does the only thing he can think of doing to make Gaara stay.

"Gaara," his voice is low, commanding, and it makes Gaara stop before he can open the door and leave, "I know that Itachi broke the contract and I know about the auctions."

And Gaara's eyes widen and he turns to Haku, "How long have you known?"

"I should be asking you that. How long has the contract been broken?"

"I…"

"How long!" And it's the first time Gaara has ever seen Haku pissed, genuinely pissed off about something. Part of him feels like a puppy who is being scolded, a puppy who presses itself against the wall to try and avoid being hit with the rolled up newspaper.

Before Gaara can answer the door behind them opens and a young man walks in, his expression bored and tired as if having just woken up from a thousand year nap, "Haku? You need to get out here," he says.

"I'm busy."

"It's important," he says, "Ino has returned and she doesn't look so good."

"Ino?" Haku looks over at Gaara and frowns, "Is she one of the ones he auctioned off?"

"She… yes…"

"Was Sakura with her?"

Gaara doesn't answer and Haku frowns even more, "We'll finish this later, Gaara. Take me to her, Shikamaru," he says to the young man standing at the door. Shikamaru nods and walks out of the room with Haku, his feet clicking against the floor like a deer trotting across the street. Gaara doesn't move to go after them, instead he sinks down to the ground, presses himself against the wall, and stays there to try and avoid being hit with the rolled up newspaper.

* * *

The bed always feels best on a day off. There is no shrill alarm clock that has to go off, therefore, sleeping can go on for a much longer period of time. Sasuke decides to sleep until noon, or rather, he decides to attempt to sleep until noon since he's cursed with a mental alarm that always wakes him up at seven. Like clockwork he had woken up at seven on the dot, but instead of having to get ready to imprison himself in a suit and tie he took pride in laying in bed while Itachi walked through the house to get ready and face morning traffic. Mocking is the best form of art, and even when it's done quietly it still tastes just as sweet. 

Sasuke had taken an extra long moment to listen to the extra set of footsteps following after his brother: Naruto. And he couldn't help but feel a small bit of smugness when those footsteps stopped longingly in front of his bedroom door, then they quickly rushed after Itachi to catch up to him. At this Sasuke had given a quiet chuckle before he curled up in his bed to try and fall back asleep.

His thoughts had become plagued with images of the fox and the previous night they had shared, and immediately Sasuke remembered what it felt like to taste sweet heaven on the tip of his tongue. For a moment he let himself feel like an immature locker room teenager who had just "scored" with the big breasted chick with the short skirts and button-down shirts. Damn, he could still feel his hands gripping onto Naruto's hips as they moved against each other in the front seat of his car, he could still feel the heat rising and fogging up the windows, making it hard--or maybe it was the sex that made it hard--to breathe. And with those thoughts, while Itachi was getting ready for work, Sasuke had covered his mouth with one hand and slid the other inside of his boxers.

And now, here we are, at noon o'clock sharp Sasuke is finally awake again.

Sasuke gets out of bed with purpose in his step, heading over to the closet and grabbing his civilian "ha ha I don't have to go to work" clothing for the day: black turtleneck with crisp black jeans pressed to Uchiha perfection. He knows what he wants to spend the rest of the day doing and after a quick shower--which includes a moment of sliding his wet hand in between his legs and imagining it as Naruto's mouth--and a bite to eat Sasuke is dressed and out the door.

It's going to take a while to find out the location of Haku's store, where he is going to get all of the questions he has answered.

* * *

The ride to the Uchiha building is nerve wrecking. Itachi hasn't said a word to Naruto and despite the fact that Naruto has no regrets over last night, Naruto wishes that his master would at least yell at him or something. A quiet Itachi is scarier than a vocally angry one, and ever since their quick conversation last night where Naruto flat-out told Itachi that he had slept with Sasuke, the two hadn't exchanged words at all. Naruto wishes he could think of something to say to create some kind of noise in the car but there's nothing left to be said. 

Naruto had slept with someone else and he had loved every second of it, and he knows that if he gets another chance he will glue himself to Sasuke's side.

When they arrive at the office Naruto shrinks into his fox form, waiting for Itachi to open the door and carry him into the office. When Itachi steps out of the car and closes his door there is a moment where Naruto thinks that his master will leave him in the car, not letting him out until he returns much later in the night. Thankfully, Itachi isn't that cruel, and he opens the door for Naruto to jump out of the car. Naruto looks up at Itachi, waiting for the man to lift him up and carry him inside but Itachi turns and starts walking to the office, making Naruto follow after him.

When they step into the building all eyes are on Naruto. This is the first time the fox hasn't been buried in Itachi's arms or snuggled up inside of his coat so the full sight of Naruto makes people stop and stare. It makes him feel uneasy. It makes him want to run to Itachi and jump into his arms to hide from the whispers and curious gazes of the others in the building. It makes him feel like he's at yet another auction, put on display for the rest of the world's entertainment.

Is this punishment, he wonders, for what he did last night?

They make it to the elevator and up to Itachi's office and they're both surprised to see that Gaara isn't waiting at the door for them. "Terrific," Itachi mutters, and it's the first thing he has said all morning. They step inside the office and Itachi throws his coat off, sighing as he reclines back in his chair. "Come here, Naruto."

Naruto is surprised to be called on by Itachi but he quickly moves over to him, turning back into his human form. He stands in front of him, naked, as always, but this is the first time he feels like he's naked. He has the urge to cover his body with his nine tails but he doesn't want to risk upsetting Itachi--even if, technically, he has no regrets of last night--more than he already has.

"I want you to hear this," Itachi says. Naruto nods his head, watching as Itachi picks up his phone. Naruto isn't quite sure what his master is planning, but he knows that at some point his heart has become clogged in his throat from nervousness. Itachi dials a number and turns on his speakerphone, then he smirks as someone answers on the other line.

"Orochimaru's office, Kabuto speaking, how may I help you?"

And Naruto's eyes widen and the nervousness becomes full-blown fear.

* * *

It takes a while to finally get Ino to calm down; three cups of tea and a soothing back rub to be exact. Haku is sitting next to her, rubbing her back, while Shikamaru sits on the other side of Ino. He still has the bored, sleepy expression on his face, but the fact that he is sitting in the room with them shows that he cares. In Ino's lap rests a brown and white striped butterball cat who has, instead of whiskers, red swirls on his cheeks. Ino has been petting the cat non-stop in an attempt to calm herself down, and it mostly works because the adorable furball won't stop purring. 

"You did nothing wrong," Haku says, "It isn't your fault that the contract was broken, it wasn't your fault that those people made the mistake of taking Sakura away from you."

"I shouldn't have killed them…"

"They knew the rules," Shikamaru says, "It's not your fault that humans find rules too troublesome to pay attention to."

"Shikamaru is right, Ino. All pet owners know the risks, you are not to blame."

"But… I don't think that man lets people know about the contracts."

"You mean Itachi?" Haku tries really hard not to frown every time he says that man's name, "Well then he is to blame, not you. And I bet the people who bought you and Sakura didn't bother to ask about any rules concerning you two."

"Why would someone purposely not warn people about us?" Ino asks, "Isn't Itachi aware of the risks?"

"He is. Maybe… he just doesn't care."

"Or maybe he's intentionally selling animals to people so that the animals can kill them." Both Ino and Haku stare at Shikamaru who just shrugs and says, "What? It's not an impossible concept."

Ino frowns and slaps Shikamaru upside his head. "Why do you always think of the worst things, Shikamaru?"

Shikamaru frowns back at Ino and rubs the back of his head, mutter something about how troublesome women are.

"What was that, Shikamaru?" Ino flexes her claws in Shikamaru's face. Shikamaru wisely shakes his head and says a soft _nothing_ in response. "That's what I thought," Ino says with a smirk, then she goes back to scratching the kitty behind one of his ears.

"... well… it isn't exactly an impossible concept…" Haku whispers, "Itachi is sadistic, and he does seem to enjoy breaking the contracts," at this thought Haku frowns more and looks down the hallway. Gaara hasn't left the bedroom yet, has he?

"How many people do you think have been killed since the auctions started?" Shikamaru asks.

"I don't know. Ino, you were there…"

"… yes, but not as long as Gaara. You should probably ask him," which of course translates to _go and talk to Gaara he needs you_.

Haku sighs and stands up, "I'll get us more tea."

"Haku… you can't just not talk to Gaara. It's not his fault that Itachi did those things."

"He still could've said something."

"He was probably torn, Haku. I mean, who does he listen to? His master or you?" And that is the question of all questions, isn't it? When it comes down to it who is a pet supposed to listen to? And no one, not even Haku, knows the answer to that.

* * *

Sasuke isn't too surprised when he discovers that Haku's shop is pretty hard to find. It's the place that people have heard of yet they've never seen it with their own eyes. 

Perhaps it's down that one street? Maybe you have to turn into that one alley? It's a rather large building, no wait, it's pretty small… naw, it's a decent size. You have to give the secret password to be let in, well actually, if you knock three times the door opens on its own.

It feels like he's been searching for the shop forever and he's about ready to give up, but the need, the desire he has to learn more about Naruto keeps him going. He's starting to think that the place is actually a mirage, maybe one of those places that appears when you desperately want it to appear. He wants to close his eyes and make a wish, click his heels three times, maybe it will appear for him if he thinks that there's no place like home?

Sasuke frowns. Uchiha men do not click their heels for anyone. Oh, but he gets an image of soft fur with a soothing smile and he suddenly remembers the inside of his car and how Naruto was erotically pressed against the steering wheel.

So… clicking heels? If it works then it works, right? And Sasuke is desperate enough, so…

BARK!

Sasuke blinks and looks down at his feet, watching as a tiny gray and black dog scampers around his feet.

BARK BARK!

"Hey little guy," Sasuke says, kneeling down and petting the small creature, "Are you lost?"

The dog wags his tail happily and leans into Sasuke's hand.

"Kiba!" The dog looks up and turns, running over towards a little boy. He has shaggy white hair that's streaked in black and he's wearing all white clothing. "Kiba! Come here, boy!" And the dog jumps into the little boy's arms, happily licking his face. The boy laughs, sets the loveable pup down, and smiles at Sasuke, "Hey mister? Thanks for finding my dog."

"Oh, it's not a problem."

"No really, thank you sir. I should give you some kind of reward…"

"Oh no, really, you don't have to give me anything." And he certainly isn't going to take money from a child.

"Really sir, I should give you something," and then the boy smirks, "How about I take you where you want to go."

"Excuse me?"

"Haku's shop. You've been looking for it all day, right? I'll take you there."

Sasuke opens his mouth to respond but he isn't able to say anything. He can only watch the boy and his dog walk down a long, dark alley. And he swears his eyes are playing tricks on him, because as the dog walks he starts to change into a person much taller than the boy, wearing a gray hoodie lined in black fur.

"So?" The dog… Kiba was his name right? Kiba turns to look at Sasuke and gives him a playful smirk, "You comin' or not?"

* * *

For a shop that is supposed to sell a ton of pets it doesn't smell like it's inhabitants are mainly cats and dogs. Most pet shops smell like sloppy wet fur and bird food, but for some reason Haku's shop smells of warm vanilla oils and honey. 

"Are you sure this is the place?"

"Of course I'm sure."

The floors are decorated with expensive looking rugs and the windows are lined with fresh silk. How can this be a pet shop? There isn't a single stain in any of the rugs nor is there a scratch on the curtains.

"This… how is this a pet shop?"

"It is, honest. Haku should be here somewhere."

And like magic Haku steps out from the back, looking as beautiful as he always does. "Hello, welcome to my… shop…" his voice trails off when he sees who is at the door then he smiles, "Sakura, it's so good to see you again."

"Thank you," Sakura says with a smile, "Oh! This is Tsunade and Shizune, they took care of me after…"

"I see. Thank you for taking care of my Sakura."

"Right…" Tsunade says, frowning, "Are you aware of what your Sakura has done?" Sakura winces and suddenly she wants to sink into the floor.

"I am aware, but that was not her fault. There are rules that need to be followed with my pets."

"I tried to explain it to them," Sakura whispers, "But…"

"But that doesn't excuse the fact that a man is dead!"

"Tsunade," Shizune whispers, gently touching her arm, "Calm down. Let him explain."

"Explain? Explain?!" Tsunade, deep down, doesn't mean to yell. She's just tired because she woke up at seven in the morning, and damnit, she hasn't gotten a chance to eat any of the delicious breakfast Shizune made! "He obviously doesn't feel guilty at all!"

And Haku is as annoyingly calm as ever, not at all intimidated by the yelling woman in his shop. "A man is dead because he didn't bother to ask about the rules, all he wanted was a rare, beautiful animal."

"So… you're not taking the blame at all?" And it makes sense, sort of, because men and women can be greedy sons of bitches. And Tsunade was there at the auction so she saw how upset both Ino and Sakura were yet those people hadn't cared at all.

"I have no reason to. When Itachi purchased both Ino and Sakura he knew that they were not to be separated. I was not aware of him selling the animals without informing customers of the rules, I just learned this information a little while ago. If you wish to be angry at anyone, be angry at Itachi."

Tsunade sighs but she nods her head, agreeing, and she makes a mental note to go to Itachi's office and punch him square in the nose for being the roundabout cause of her losing sleep. "But," she asks, "why would Itachi sell the animals without warning people of the risks?"

"We've been trying to figure that out all day," Haku says.

"We? Who else is here?"

"Oh yes, I forgot to mention that didn't I?" Haku gets a mischievous look on his face. "Sakura, someone is in the back waiting for you."

"R-really?" Her voice is hopeful and her eyes light up like a child on Christmas morning, "Is it…"

"I don't know…"

"Haku! Stop that!"

Haku giggles and somehow manages to look very innocent despite the devious grin, "You'll just have to go back there and see."

Sakura doesn't even pretend to be calm and she runs to the backroom. Haku leans back against the wall and starts to count on his fingers; 5, 4, 3... 2... "INO!!!"

"SAKURA!"

"Well ladies," Haku says to Tsunade and Shizune, "I'm sure you must have a lot of questions."

"So do I." And Sasuke is standing at the entrance with the boy, Akamaru, and his dog Kiba, "I have a lot of questions to ask you, Haku."

* * *

"You can't-" 

"It's already done, Naruto."

"But… Itachi-sama please, you can't give me to him!" And Naruto is on his knees in front of Itachi who is lounging back in his office chair, his eyes cold and uncaring to Naruto's pleas.

"I'm not giving you to him… yet," Itachi frowns, "But if you mess up again I might."

"But… I-I… I didn't mess up, I didn't do anything wrong!"

"You slept with my brother!" For a moment Naruto isn't sure what upsets his master more: the betrayal of the pet or the betrayal of the younger brother.

"I wanted to be with someone who cared and who didn't use me!"

"Have you forgotten that you are a pet? I get to use you however I want."

Naruto frowns, all fear pushed aside so he can say what every pet has wanted to say to a master who feels that they can do as they please, "Pets have feelings too," and for good measure he does not put 'sama' at the end of his name, he simply says, "Itachi."

Itachi frowns more but it's mostly because he doesn't know how to respond to that. It's the first time Naruto has really stood up to him… but that does not excuse the fact that the young fox slept with his brother.

There is a knock on the door and Itachi smirks, standing from his chair, "Enjoy your time with Orochimaru," he says as he goes to answer the door.

The door seems to open in a fascinating sort of slow motion. Naruto can hear his heart drumming loudly in his ears and it's a bit hard to breathe, his palms sweaty and the fur of his tails standing on end. But he will not beg Itachi anymore, especially not in front of the vile snake who smirks at him as he walks through the door.

"Oh I've been waiting for this moment, little fox," Orochimaru hisses and slowly licks his lips, his eyes moving all over Naruto's body.

And part of Naruto wishes that he would've thrown away his pride and begged for Itachi's forgiveness.

* * *

"What are they?" 

"They are pets, Sasuke."

"But they are also human."

Haku smiles, "And isn't that what makes them so appealing?"

* * *

Naruto stands up and backs away from Orochimaru, shaking his head, "Don't touch me," he whispers. 

"But I have always wanted to touch you."

* * *

"I'm assuming my brother knows this." 

"Of course he does, that's why he keeps coming back."

"There's another reason. Naruto mentioned it, he said something about…"

"… an auction?"

"Did you know about these auctions?"

"No, and that is not what my pets are supposed to be used for. Not to mention that your brother is breaking the rules of some of their contracts."

"Contracts?"

* * *

Naruto is pressed back against the large office window, his hands pinned above his head in an inhumanly tight grip. Orochimaru leans close to Naruto and grabs onto his chin with his other hand, tilting his head up and hungrily licking at his lips. Naruto tries to turn his head away but Orochimaru holds it in place, using his tongue against his lips, down to his neck and around his ear. "Delicious," Orochimaru whispers, "you are absolutely delicious." And he lets go of Naruto's chin and starts to explore his body with his fingers and nails. Orochimaru's skin feels slimy and smooth and it makes Naruto nauseous, his entire body shaking and desperate to pull away from the disgusting creature.

* * *

"There are contracts for each pet. They each have a set of rules that must be followed. The consequences for breaking the rules can be… deadly."

* * *

"Don't touch me… d-don't touch me!" 

"You did this to yourself. You upset your master, little fox."

"He upset me! He upsets all of us! I didn't do anything wrong, I did nothing wrong!"

"Oh, young fox, don't you understand? You are here for our entertainment. You must do as we say and you must enjoy doing it."

Naruto's eyes narrow, "I am not here for your entertainment."

"Yes you are," Orochimaru moves his hand lower, "and I am going to enjoy you."

But Naruto doesn't react to the touch. He doesn't scream and the sick feeling in his stomach begins to settle, becoming eerily calm. He whispers, his voice steady with no trace of fear, "No, you will not."

* * *

"What do you mean deadly?" 

"Some contracts, when they are broken, cause pets to react violently."

"Violently?" Sasuke frowns, "Does my brother know this?"

"Of course he does. He knows about the contracts, I tell him all about them each time. He simply doesn't care about them. But one day… he'll regret it."

* * *

Orochimaru continues to touch Naruto, his hand playing in-between his legs, trying to get some kind of reaction, "You will give into me," he says, kneeling down in front of Naruto and slowly moving his tongue against him. 

"No, I won't."

* * *

"Are you saying that one of those animals is going to kill my brother?" 

"If he pushes them too far, yes. Though he sells them and only keeps a select few…"

Sasuke frowns more, trying to remember all of the pets that Itachi keeps. There is Kisame, the large blue shark swimming around in his office, but he has never seen his brother pay too much attention to the shark. Then there is the panther, Gaara, but he is always outside of the door.

Then… Naruto…

"Tell me, what is Naruto capable of?"

"Naruto? Oh, that is one contract that should never be broken."

"Why?"

* * *

At this point Orochimaru is getting frustrated. He bends Naruto over the desk and yanks his own pants down. There is no more foreplay at this point and he angrily pushes inside of him, screaming, "Give into me!" 

"No." And despite the pain Naruto remains calm.

* * *

"Naruto… has quite the spirit. And if he is pushed too much, if he is backed into a corner… he will lash out." 

"What?" Sasuke is starting to sound a bit nervous, worried about his brother.

"Kyubi," Haku whispers, and he tries hard not to smirk, "It's very powerful and it's inside of Naruto. And if it comes out… no one will be spared."

* * *

And the movement is monotonous, boring, despite the rough sex that Orochimaru is administering onto Naruto. Orochimaru grips onto Naruto's hips and thrusts into him, harder and faster, deeper and deeper. Naruto grips onto the edge of the desk, his nails slowly shifting into long, sharp claws. 

And he smirks, his eyes getting thinner and turning a bright red.

* * *

"And you're just going to allow this?!" 

"It's your brother's own fault if this happens. He is well aware of the danger."

"You're not going to do anything to stop this?"

"It's out of my hands, Sasuke. Naruto is your brother's responsibility now."

"He is your pet!"

"No, he is Itachi's."

Sasuke glares, his hands shaking and he wants to slap Haku, kick him, strangle him, something! But damnit, he knows that Haku is right. Itachi knows the risk so it is his own fault. "What is Kyubi? Please, tell me about it."

* * *

Orochimaru smirks, moaning as Naruto's body grows hotter, "That's it," he says, "now you're getting into it." And Orochimaru moves faster, rocking against Naruto, "More, more!" 

"Whatever you want," Naruto growls out, and before Orochimaru can blink Naruto is pulling away from him and he turns, slamming Orochimaru down onto the ground. Orochimaru opens his mouth to respond but all he can do is stare at Naruto, whose tails move like liquid fire, who now has sharp fangs and wild, long whisker marks on his cheeks. "You want me, Orochimaru?" Naruto gets on top of him and pins his hands down, his claws digging into Orochimaru's skin and cutting into it. "You can have me, you fucking snake!"

* * *

Sasuke runs out of the pet shop. He doesn't look back, he doesn't think to call for a cab, he just runs straight in the direction of the Uchiha building.

* * *

Naruto moves on top of Orochimaru, moaning lowly as they move frantically together. The room gets hotter, the heat thick and humid around them as they have wild, barbaric sex that is completely and totally unorganized. Naruto keeps Orochimaru's hands pinned down, blood running down his wrists from Naruto's claws. It hurts but it's intoxicating. Orochimaru wants to stop and wrap the cuts on his arms but he wants to have this creature, this Naruto, he wants to possess him and overpower him. So he keeps moving, thrusting into the fox as hard as he can, determined to break him. 

But Naruto seems to enjoy all of it, completely out of control as he throws his head back and screams.

* * *

The Uchiha building is too far away but Sasuke keeps running, his lungs burning and his feet ready to fall off. But he has to get there, he has to try… and what? Save his brother? Talk some sense into him? Itachi obviously knows what he is getting himself into, but… death? Does he know that he can be killed by these animals? Itachi seems to have the insane notion of being invincible, completely unstoppable, but that is certainly not the case. 

Even the most powerful of Uchiha men can die.

* * *

As soon as the sex is over Naruto stabs his claws into Orochimaru's chest, right over his heart. He leans forward and gently kisses his lips, whispering, "This is what happens when you fuck with me." He gives him another kiss, longer and deeper, as long lines of fire start to leak from his fingers, down his claws and against Orochimaru's skin. 

"Ah. Yes. So this is the power. The power of the nine tailed fox." Orochimaru smirks for just a moment before he starts chuckling, laughing, before the flames of deep, red eyes consume him.

And soon his laughter turns into screams, the fire melting over his skin and burning him alive.

* * *

"Niisan!" Sasuke finally makes it to the building and runs inside, startling all of the people downstairs. He looks around, his heart clogged in his throat, making it impossible for him to breathe. "NIISAN!" But Itachi isn't downstairs and Sasuke dreads going upstairs to the office. He runs to the stairs and runs up the long tower of stairs; waiting for the elevator would've taken too long. Halfway up the stairs he needs to stop and take a couple of deep breaths, sweat making his forehead moist as it drips over his eyelashes. He shakes his head, he has to keep going, and he runs up the remaining number of stairs until he gets to the sixty-eighth floor. 

Sasuke stumbles over to the door and throws it open, screaming, "Niisan!"

Naruto looks up when the door opens and he smirks, the burnt remains of Orochimaru's body lying underneath him. "Well well well," Naruto says, licking his lips, "it looks like I have someone else to play with."

And Sasuke stands, frozen, not able to say a word.

_To be continued_


End file.
